


To Evolve

by Fayaheda



Series: Sterek Collection [8]
Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Addiction, Alternate Universe, Always Female Stiles Stilinski, Amends, Anger, Beta Derek Hale, Comfort, Dark Stiles Stilinski, Evil Stiles Stilinski, Evolving, Ex-Evil Stiles Stilinski, F/M, Family, Female Stiles Stilinski, Forgiveness, Friendship, Gen, Hate, Hurt, Loneliness, Love, Magical Stiles Stilinski, Mentally Unstable Chris Argent, Mentions of other characters - Freeform, Mild Language, Mild Sexual Content, Moving On, Near Apocalypse, Pack, Past Character Death, Past Murder, Redemption, Revenge, Season/Series 03, Season/Series 04, Self-Acceptance, Self-Destruction, Soul Bond, Spark Stiles Stilinski, True Alpha Scott McCall, True Love, True Mates, magic addiction, mild violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-13
Updated: 2014-11-17
Packaged: 2018-02-20 23:56:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 29,321
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2447792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fayaheda/pseuds/Fayaheda
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Deaton grins at that. "What's the point of anything?" His grin only widens when she shoots him a rather withering look. "The point is to live, Stiles. And to live is to endure whatever is thrown our way, to accept ourselves as well as one another and finally, to evolve."</p><p>[This story is the prequel of, 'I'm a Killer'.]</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. To Evolve

**Author's Note:**

> This is just a little something I thought of doing while I was bored at work the other day.  
> It's inspired by Willow (from Buffy) in season six, when she turns evil for a little bit and of course, Stiles' possession by the Nugitsune.
> 
> Let me know what you think?
> 
> Thank you for reading!

[Cornwall, England...]

Stiles doesn't know why she's here, not really. She suspects, but she's still not quite certain. She thought she had known, but it turns out that she was completely wrong. And that's something she's been feeling for a long time now: wrong.

+

Deaton hasn't seen Stiles all day and by lunchtime, he becomes concerned enough to make his way to Miss Hart's stable. He let's the witch know what he's doing and with that, he tacks up George - his favourite of the horses; a large and beautiful, raven-black cob - and is off galloping across the fields of the English countryside in no time at all. Thankfully, his search doesn't take too long, and he slows George down to a trot as he finally spots her. He halts a few yards away, sliding off of George and just leaving the beast to enjoy the long, green grass.

Those few yards away, Stiles is sat on the grass, under a large, lone oak tree, that's blossoming beautifully under the warm, spring Sun. She knows she's not alone as she continues to stare down at the exotic flower that blooms unnaturally quick by her hand (her magic hand, of course). In fact, because of the magic, she knew he was coming to look for her as soon as he had decided so. Though, she knows that Deaton already knows this, too. After, he always seem to know everything about everything before anyone else does.

Deaton gives George a gentle pat across the beast's muscular chest and begins to walk across the field. He slips off his black-leather riding gloves as he draws closer to her.

Stiles continues to just sit there, simply staring down at the flower as it grows and blooms and moves with a gentle flutter of its leaves and petals.

Deaton stands a couple of meters away, to the side of her. He watches her for a few moments, his gaze then drifting down to the flower. "That doesn't belong there." He says, his gentle, but still slightly teasing.

Stiles smiles lightly, her eyes still on the flower. "I know." She nods.

"That's the flora kua alaya. A native of Paraguay, if my botany serves." Deaton comments as he moves closer.

Stiles' smile widens a little as the flower continues to flutter gently, as if dancing for her. "Is there anything that you don't know absolutely everything about?"

"Yes, actually. Synchronised swimming." Deaton replies as he takes a seat on the grass beside her. "It's a complete mystery to me."

Stiles chuckles quietly, lightly shaking her head.

They sit in relatively comfortable silence for a few moments, until Deaton decides to break it. "Where does it come from?" He asks as he watches the performing flower.

"Paraguay." Stiles arches a brow at him.

Deaton smirks, shaking his head. "Who brought it through the Earth?"

Realisation quickly flashes through Stiles' expression. "I did." She glances back to the flower. "But I didn't create it, not really. It's all connected. The root systems, the molecules, the energy." She says thoughtfully. "Everything's connected."

Deaton smiles fondly. "You sound like Miss Hart." He comments, clearly teasing again.

Stiles smiles faintly at that. "She's taught me a lot, already." She says with a nod.

"Then, why aren't you in your lesson right now?" Deaton asks, while arching a brow. He's not angry, just concerned.

Stiles sighs quietly in defeat. "Sorry." She mumbles as she dips her head down, hiding her guilty expression from his.

"It's okay." Deaton assures her with a smile. "Lola's just -"

"- Afraid of me." Stiles nods. "Yeah, they all are." She shrugs lightly, clearly beat now. "The coven - they're the most amazing women that I've ever met. But there's this look that they get sometimes - like I'm gonna turn them all into toads or something and I'm..." She huffs. "I'm not even really sure what the hell that means."

"They're just cautious." Deaton tells her. "I'm sure you can understand that."

"But..." Stiles scowls. "I don't even have that much power... I don't think I do..."

"Everything is connected." Deaton reminds her as he motions towards the flower, which is still fluttering gently. "YOU are connected to a great power, whether you feel it or not."

Stiles scoffs. "Well, then, you should just take it away from me altogether." She hauls herself up onto her feet, storming off.

Deaton sighs tiredly as he stands and follows after her. "You know that we can't." He calls after her. "This isn't just a hobby or an addiction. It's inside your soul now, this magic. And you are the only one who is responsible for it."

Stiles halts, his words slowly sinking into her mind. "Will they -" She gulps down the aching lump in her throat. "Will they always be afraid of me?"

"Maybe." Deaton admits as she turns to face him. "Do you think you can handle that?"

Stiles scoffs bitterly. "I deserve a lot worse than that." He eyes begin to water a little. "I've killed people, Deaton..."

Deaton stares calmly back at her as he nods. "I not forgotten."

"When you brought me here," Stiles says as she glances across the field to where George is munching on as much grass as he possibly can. "I thought it was to kill me or at least to lock me up in some mystical dungeon for all of eternity." She frowns, almost scalding him. "But instead, you go all Rupert Giles on me."

Deaton smiles lightly in amusement at that little reference.

Stiles simply continues, oblivious. "I'm learning about magic, still - all about the energies and Gaia and root systems. And I just..."

Deaton frowns slightly, torn between his concerns and confusion. "Do you WANT to be punished, Stiles?"

Stiles glances pathetically up at him. "I just wanna be Stiles again." She mumbles out through her trembling bottom lip and her teary eyes.

"You are." Deaton reassures her, and there's so much conviction in his voice that she almost believes him. "In the end, we ALL are who we are and always have been, no matter how much we may appear to have changed."

"Then, what's the point of even trying?" Stiles asks miserably.

Deaton grins at that. "What's the point of anything?" His grin only widens when she shoots him a rather withering look. "The point is to live, Stiles. And to live is to endure whatever is thrown our way, to accept ourselves as well as one another and finally, to evolve."


	2. Welcome Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Well, I know what I'm gonna say." Derek finally speaks, earning the others' attention as he turns to face them. ""Hello, Stiles. Welcome home.""

[Cornwall, England...]

Stiles doesn't even see it coming, doesn't feel the feeling stirring within her. Until, that is, she's crying out loud from the sharp pains that shoot through her entire being. The sudden sensation is too overwhelming to her, so much so, that she can no longer stand on her own two feet within a matter seconds.

Deaton is across the field after her and he manages to move quickly enough to catch her before she sinks to her knees. He slips his arms under hers and hold her close as he keeps her from falling.

"Oh, G-God!" Stiles chokes out through a series of splutters and gasps. Her hands grab his jacket, clutching tightly as the pain slices through her insides.

"Just breathe." Deaton tells her. His voice is as calm as ever, but he's still concerned, of course. Before the whole Nugitsune ordeal, he hadn't really known Stiles all that well. And in the last year or so, he's grown rather fond of the girl, like a odd sort of adopted father-daughter/teacher-student relationship. Much like the one he has with Scott, though he's closer to Scott, in the last three months - since he brought her to England - he's gotten to know her better, gotten to see what type of person she really is, even if he kind of knew that already.

"I... I can't..." Stiles tries to take his advice by taking deep and slow breaths.

"Just breathe, Stiles, keep breathing." Deaton holds her tighter, simply for comfort and moral support.

And after a few minutes of doing just that, just dragging herself through the pain finally pays off. Stiles feels the pains slowly begin to ebb away and as it does, her pulse finally begins to slow down, too, as well as her breathing.

Deaton smiles lightly as he slides a hand up to rub the backs of her shoulders. "That's it."

"What the hell happened?" Stiles breathes shakily. "What was that?"

Deaton slowly let's go of her, but not before making sure she can stand on her own. "What do you remember?" He asks, looking more curious than concerned now.

"We were just talking and then, I felt..." Stiles stares down at the grass beneath her feet and now it's like she actually hear the soil talking to her, whispering to her. "I felt the Earth move..."

Deaton's curiosity gets the better of him, as usual. "It's all connected, remember?"

"It is." Stiles nods, a frown quickly crossing her brow. "But it's all good or pure... Or rootsy, like it should be."

"What do you mean?" Deaton frowns, too, looking a lot more dreaded now. "What did you see?"

"I saw the Earth," Stiles glances up to him with the same look in her eyes that he's now wearing, only she looks more afraid than he does. "I saw its eyes... Like huge, glowing beacons..."

Realisation quickly spreads across the veterinary's face. "Beacon Hills."

"They're gonna open, Deaton." Stiles says, her voice trembling slightly and her eyes wide. "They're gonna open right up and end us all..."

+

[Beacon Hills - One Week Later...]

Derek stands beside the others, but he's not paying attention to them in the slightest. He's simply waiting outside the lane for arrivals in this damn airport, like he has been for the last two hours, like they all have been.

"Do you think she'll get the sign?" Scott asks, looking very much like a hopeful and excited child.

"'Get the sign'?" Malia scoffs as she glances to the large banner he and Kira are holding up. "I don't even think she'll SEE the sign."

"Yeah..." Kira frowns as she glances down at the banner and then to her boyfriend. "Why is it so, um... Pale?"

"Oh, uh," Scott grins sheepishly. "Yellow crayons - it's a thing Stiles and I used to do in class, so that we could talk to each other on the bluff."

"Sneaky." Malia grins slyly, her eyes lighting up with mischief. "I like it."

"Awh." Kira smiles fondly. "That's kinda sweet."

Scott smiles, blushing lightly. "Yeah... I just hope she gets it."

"I'm kinda nervous, guys." Lydia pipes up, the nervousness showing clearly in her expression.

"Me, too. It's gonna be kinda weird - seeing her again." Malia admits, looking slightly nervous, too. She's close to Stiles, probably more so than anyone ever. "I mean, what exactly do you say to someone in this situation?"

"Well, I know what I'm gonna say." Derek finally speaks, earning the others' attention as he turns to face them. ""Hello, Stiles. Welcome home.""

"Oh, come on!" Lydia scoffs lightly. "You're saying that it's not going to be at least strange in the slightest?" She arches a brow, staring expectantly at the eldest wolf.

Derek merely scowls. Of course it will be weird, but it's still Stiles. To him, anyway.

"Yeah, I mean... We saw her kill people..." Malia mumbles out, loud enough so that only the group can hear.

"Yeah," Kira nods. "And she was about to kill Scott -"

"It wasn't her fault. She was... Going through some bad stuff..." Scott interjects quickly, cutting them all off. "And anyway, Deaton wouldn't let her leave unless she finished whatever recovery course thingy he had her doing."

Lydia arches a brow, because she doesn't need super-hearing to know that the Alpha doesn't quite believe his own words. Although, she understands that he's just afraid, rather than doubtful. So for now, she keeps her opinion to herself.

"Right." Derek agrees with a nod, though, he's not exactly looking at the group and he doesn't really sound like he's genuinely agreeing, neither.

"Right..." Lydia narrows her eyes at him suspiciously.

The others all glance curiously at him, too.

"Derek," Scott narrows his eyes at the older wolf, too.

"Hmm?" Derek arches a brow, looking far too casual for any of their liking.

"What're you not telling us?" Malia jumps in immediately upon realisation.

And now, the others are all glancing through worried expressions.

Derek stares at them for a couple of seconds before he let's out a sigh of defeat. "Stiles kinda... Didn't finish..."

At this, most of their eyes widen in shock, Lydia's, most of all. "I'm sorry - what?" She asks calmly while blinking rapidly at the eldest wolf.

"She didn't finish!?" Malia exclaims. "Stiles didn't finish NOT being evil!?" She glares at her cousin. "What the hell, Derek!?"

Derek rolls his eyes. "Look," He glances towards the others, mainly Scott and Lydia, the two who have known her longest. "Deaton said that it's really important that she comes back a few days earlier. He also said that she's been doing really well and that we don't even need to worry."

"It's fine." Scott gives the wolf a curt nod to let him know he's not pissed with him for lying. "She's still Stiles, guys."

Kira looks more nervous than anything. She's also slightly afraid, but she's not angry , because she knows what Stiles was going through. Well, some parts anyway.

Malia's a little angrier, but also upset. However, she's still excited to see Stiles. And she can't help, but already begin to forgive her awful actions. It annoys her to the core, but she at least accepts it.

"Hey, guys, I just noticed something..." Lydia says as she glances towards the arrival doors.

"Everybody's off the plane." Scott notes, quickly catching on.

Derek frowns, concern quickly spreading across his features. "So where's Stiles?"

[Cornwall, England - 19 Hours Ago...]

Stiles is perched on her suitcase in the large front porch of Miss Hart's large manor. She stares off into the beautiful gardens, just thinking as the rain continues to pour heavily.

Deaton appears silently behind her after a few more moments. "The taxi's here."

Stiles nods. "I know." She mumbles softly, still staring off into the distance.

Deaton nods to himself as he moves closer to her. "And in keeping with old traditions; you would now be expected to get into it." He grins down at her, trying to lighten her mood, because he knows her well enough by now.

"I don't know if I can." Stiles glances helplessly up at him. "I'm not done here, Deaton."

Deaton sighs heavily as he walks around to her, face-to-face. "That's just your fear talking." He tries to reassure her as he crouches down in front of her.

"Yeah," Stiles nods. "And my fear is BIG, okay? It's a big, obnoxious blabber-mouth." She sighs tiredly. "And YOU'RE the one who keeps telling me to trust my instincts." She says, shooting him a rather pathetic pointed look.

Deaton smirks lightly in amusement. "True." He admits. But still, he knows there is something else. He already knows what it is and he doesn't blame her, but he's patient with her, because she's still learning.

"So, shouldn't I be listening to it?" Stiles asks, now sounding more helpless. "I don't wanna screw up again. I should stay. I mean, not forever, obviously. But just long enough to - I don't know - make my fear shut up a little bit?" And now, she knows she's practically begging, but she doesn't care. She's fucking terrified, okay!?

"It's po -" Deaton quickly steps out to give the taxi a wave of acknowledgement when the horn suddenly blurts out through the heavy downpour. He then quickly steps back into the porch and stands in front of her. "It's possible, but -" He gives her a look, arching his brow slightly down at her. "Try to be very specific here - what are you really afraid of?"

Stiles scoffs lightly, shooting him an "are you serious?" look. "Well, for starters, how about the fact that something bad is going to happen in Beacon Hills, very soon?"

Deaton grins slightly. "Bad things ALWAYS happen in Beacon Hills. What else you got?"

Stiles glares at him. "And what if I give up all of this self-control for whatever reason and I go all veiny and homicidal again?"

Deaton's grin falters when he sees her eyes brimming with tears.

"And what if..." Stiles trails off as an aching lump forms in the back of her throat. Because she can't even think about it, let alone actually say it.

"What if they don't forgive you?" Deaton ask, his voice gentle. But he already knows the answer, of course.

Stiles swallows down the painful lump. "Uh-huh." She mumbles out with a limp nod.

"Oh, Stiles," Deaton sighs loudly as he moves closer and crouches down in front of her again. "We could spend another ten years here, training and practising and learning to hone your abilities and there would still be no absolute way of knowing for sure the friends and family that you left behind are still your friends and family."

Stiles huffs. "Well, sure..." She rolls her eyes. "When you put it like THAT... Duh."

Deaton rolls his eyes right back, but he can't help grinning broadly. "Well, I would LOVE to offer you at least a little guarantee that you'd be welcomed back to Beacon Hills with warm, open arms, but I just can't."

"Yeah, thanks..." Stiles shoots him a playful glare.

"Besides," Deaton's expression grows a little more serious. "You may not be wanted, but you WILL be needed."

Stiles arches a brow. "That all you got, huh?"

Deaton can't help cracking another smirk. "For the moment, yes."

Stiles sighs loudly in defeat, but nods. "Okay, then, I guess I better..." She slowly rises to her feet.

"Just try to trust yourself, Stiles." Deaton follows, grabbing her suitcase. "You do that, and eventually, others will follow you."


	3. We're Her Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "But..." Scott's expression is sad now. "We're her friends... We'd never turn on her."

[The Stilinski Household...]

"What's the time, now?" John asks as she glances to his now dead phone.

Scott glances towards the timer on the microwave. "Already twenty-to-eleven. Late."

"I called Deaton as soon as we left the airport." Derek informs the Sheriff. "He says that he put her on the plane himself."

"Yeah, but she could have just teleported." Lydia points out, arching a brow.

"I don't think so." Scott says. "She wouldn't do that in front of all of those people."

"Not unless she's... Y'know..." Lydia gulps quietly. "Evil again."

"If that was really the case," Derek points out. "I think she'd have been here already, trying to kill us all."

"Hmm." Lydia nods. "You DO have a point there."

John ignores them all. "She's been missing for almost six hours already." He grumbles miserably. "Shit. What if she's -"

"No, don't think like that." Scott scalds him for even trying. "We don't know anything yet."

"Well," Liam pipes up. He's been standing back, just letting them talk it over until now. "I mean, maybe she saw you guys at the airport and slipped away unseen, 'cause she couldn't face seeing you again."

"That could also be a factor." Lydia nods again. And now, she feels slightly guilty, too.

Derek's already thought about that and it aches his heart terribly so.

"But..." Scott's expression is sad now. "We're her friends... We'd never turn on her."

"Stiles knows that, Scott. That's not her issue." Derek says with a sad sigh, because he knows.

Lydia knows, too. She nods in agreement, looking rather glum now, as well. "She's afraid of herself."

"Huh." Liam smiles faintly. "I get that."

"I don't care." John huffs. "When I find her, I'm gonna strangle her."

Scott smiles at this, he can't help it.

Derek wants to smile, too. But right now, all he can think is; 'Where are you, Stiles?'

+

[Meanwhile...]

"Dad?" Stiles shuts the front door behind her and walks through to the living room. Oddly, all of the lights are on, even the television is on. She walks through to the kitchen, however, still finding no one in sight.

"Dad? Anybody home?"

She soon realises that no one is in the house. It's weird how everything is still on, but she's more concerned with where the heck everyone is.

She was incredibly hurt when she saw that none of her friends or even her father had come to meet her at the airport. Although, she can't really blame them.

She glances towards the microwave, noting that it's already twenty-to-eleven.

+

"I think we should just get some sleep." Scott says as he sees Liam yawning.

"That's probably a good idea. We're all gonna need our strength." Derek agrees. Out loud anyway. He doesn't think he'll be getting any sleep tonight. He's too fucking worried right now.

"Alright, fine." John sighs tiredly. "You kids go home. I'll call you in the morning, Scott."

Scott nods. "C'mon, pup'."

Liam rolls his eyes, but follows his Alpha towards the front door. Although, not without a quick wave to the others.

+

Stiles' heart races when she suddenly hears the front door open and closing.

"Dad!?"

She races out of the kitchen and through the living room, only to see no one and nothing. The television is still on, as are all the lights, too.

She glances around, both confused and still kind of hurt that nobody has even bothered to search for her.

+

"Maybe she double-backed." Derek suggested. "Got off the plane in London after she knew that Deaton had left."

"It's possible." John nods, wearing a thoughtful expression.

"Well, if she's doing THAT - ducking Deaton - then..." Lydia is timid as she asks. "She's, maybe, evil again... Right?"

"Well, I've avoided Deaton tonnes of times." Derek smiles in amusement, clearly trying to lighten the mood a little. "It just meant that I was lazy, not evil."

Lydia rolls her eyes at that, but she can't help smirking slightly. "Yeah, well, I hope you're right, 'cause defeating Lazy Stiles is PROBABLY a lot less hard than defeating Evil Stiles."

Derek's smile simply widens. He has no doubt that Stiles hasn't "turned back to the Dark side". He would know it, he would feel it. After all, she is his mate. Not that he will ever have the balls to tell her that, of course...

"We should check our messages again - see if she tried to reach us yet." John states, quickly rushing into the living room, where his phone is charging on the dining room table.

"Good ide -" Derek pauses instantly when he hears something coming from upstairs, Stiles bedroom, to be more specific. It sounds very much like softly shuffling feet.

+

Stiles hauls herself up the stares, down the hallway and into her bedroom. She closes the door quietly behind her and shuffles over to her bed before dropping down on it and curling up.

+

Derek frowns in confusion as he walks back down the stairs.

"What was it?" Lydia asks instantly.

"Nothing." Derek says, his frown deepening. "There's nobody up there."

John comes back into the living room. "Nothing." He grunts. "Not a single message from her. I'm gonna kill her!"

"Look, just try to get some rest and we'll be back first thing tomorrow." Lydia tells the poor Sheriff as she lays a comforting hand on his shoulder.

+

Stiles sighs, both tired and simply heartbroken as she tries to force herself to sleep. Maybe then, she can escape everything for at least a few hours.

+

Derek closes the Stilinski's front door quietly behind him.

"So, what else did Deaton say?" Lydia asks as they walk down the front-yard pathway.

"He's blaming himself pretty hard." Derek says with a sigh. "Like he should have known she wasn't really ready to come back."

Lydia rolls his eyes. "He's always blaming himself for SOMEthing." She shoots him a teasing grin. "Kinda like you, "sourwolf"."

Derek rolls his eyes, but he can't help smiling a little, at least. "Yeah, well, I DID keep telling him that it wasn't his fault, that couldn't have really known."

Lydia nods in acknowledgement. "Maybe there was something about us that she just couldn't face. Like Liam said."

"Like she didn't think we were ready to forgive her?" Derek puffs out a light, but slightly bitter chuckle. "Yeah," He nods. "I get THAT."

Lydia shoots the "sourwolf" a withering look. "So, everybody is blaming themselves. But is anybody gonna actually blame Stiles here? I mean, will anybody around here ever start thinking that MAYBE she's gone off the wagon again."

Derek scowls. "She hasn't, okay? I'd know, I'd be able to sense it."

"Right." Lydia rolls her eyes, because of course, she's the only one smart enough to figure out Derek's "deal" with Stiles. Though, she promised to keep it to herself. For now anyway. But he doesn't need to know that part...

Derek huffs. "Just shut up and get in the car, Red."

Lydia scoffs, but does as she's told. For once.


	4. Don't Run Away

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "No, no, Brett! Don't - don't run away!" Stiles holds up her hands as she slowly edges closer to the wolf. "It's cool, dude. I'm not gonna hurt you, I swear."

The next morning...]

After still having seen no sign of her father, Stiles quickly has a shower, changes her clothes and then, hops into her precious Jeep. She sticks the key into the ignition, but doesn't start the engine yet as she pulls out her phone and dials.

"Hart Manor. Hello. How may I help you?"

Stiles smiles at his posh British accent. "Hey, Jeffery."

"Miss Stilinski!? Hello! Lovely to hear from you."

Stiles' smiles, touched by the old butler's fondness towards her. "It's good to hear your voice."

"And yours, as well, my dear." Jeffery chirps brightly.

"I'm calling for Mr. Deaton."

"Ah, you just missed him, my dear. He's gone off to help Miss Hart with a supernatural case. Won't be back for a couple of days."

"Figures." Stiles sighs inwardly. "Okay, thanks, Jeffery. Talk to you soon."

"I hope so. Good day, Miss Stilinski."

Stiles hangs up and shoves her phone back into her jacket pocket. She then, reaches forward to start up the engine. However, as she glances up, her eyes instantly land on a certain werewolf sauntering up her driveway; Brett Talbot. The ever-curious part of her brain asks what he's doing here, nonetheless, she's just happy to see a familiar face.

Brett halts halfway up the front-yard pathway of the Stilinski household. He takes a deeper sniff, recognising the scent right away. He swirls around just in time to see Stiles getting out of her Jeep and heading straight towards him and he can't help panicking a little.

"Hey, Brett!" Stiles' smile immediately drops when she sees his eyes widen in fear.

Brett quickly backs away from her, stumbling slightly.

"No, no, Brett! Don't - don't run away!" Stiles holds up her hands as she slowly edges closer to the wolf. "It's cool, dude. I'm not gonna hurt you, I swear."

Brett ceases his movements at her words, but stares sceptically back at her. "What're you doing here? I thought you were in England with Deaton," He arches a brow at her. "Y'know? Learning how to NOT kill people."

"Yeah..." Stiles averts her gaze in shame. "I just got back, yesterday."

"You just got back?" Brett seems a little more at ease. "As in, you're all better now?" He then stares suspiciously at her. "Or you just got back to bring about a fiery apocalypse of death?"

"Um," Stiles frowns. "Neither. But I've been studying, working real hard and I'm... I'm gonna be fine." And she only kind of believes that. Well, she's trying to, at least.

"Oh... Well, good." Brett nods, even offering an approving smile. "'Cause I remember the last time you said that? Y'know? Right before you killed my Alpha right in front of my eyes. Oh, and not to mention the fact that I've spent a lot of time since then, cleaning the debris out of my ex-livelihood." And now he's just plain glaring at her.

"Look, if you wanna take out your revenge on me, then that's fine." Stiles nods. "I deserve it."

Brett huffs. "No. I don't kill people." He shoots her a pointed look. "Besides, it would only make me feel better for like, a few seconds. And it won't bring Satomi back."

"Right." Stiles nods in acknowledgement. "The Buddhist thing."

"Yeah." Brett smirks in amusement.

"Well, you could, like, verbally abuse me. Curse the heck outta me." Stiles suggests.

"What? And you won't mind?" Brett arches his brows.

Stiles shakes her head. "No. Go right ahead. Curse away."

Brett scowls, looking slightly beat. "Well, then, it's no fun."

"Sorry." Stiles sighs gloomily. "I feel so responsible..."

"You "feel" so responsible?" Brett scoffs lightly. "You ARE so responsible!"

"I know." Stiles nods. "I hurt you and - and everybody and I... I'm just... Sorry... I don't know what else to do. I just wanna make things better."

Brett sighs, slightly defeated, because he actually feels sorry for her. He likes Stiles. She's a little annoying and talkative, but he thinks she nice. And she's always been there right beside Scott, helping out as if she were one of them. She understands his kind and he actually respects her for that. "Well, here's something you probably already know about us werewolves - whether we're controlled or not; we don't really group with the, "sorry". We much rather prefer the, "oh, God! Please, stop beating me with my own rib bones!""

Stiles just nods, taking whatever he has to say to her. It's the very fuck least she can do after killing almost all of what was left of his pack.

Brett huffs. "Look, it's the past now." He gives her a look of understanding after venting out his angry rant. "And I know you can hide the lie in your heart with our kind," He shoots her a playful glare. "But you don't SMELL evil anymore, at least."

"How does evil smell?" Stiles asks, because duh, she's Stiles.

Brett chuckles heartily. "Eh, kinda like rusty copper... And death, obviously."

"Right." Stiles nods. "So," Because she just can't help herself sometimes. And she's never really thought to ask until now. "How does, um, not-evil smell?"

"That really depends on the person." Brett smirks smugly. "So, is the werewolf class over for today?"

Stiles rolls her eyes, but she can't help smiling. "Anyway, what're you doing here?" She asks finally, motioning to her house.

"Oh," Brett glances towards the house, wearing a soft smile. "Your dad's been helping me adopt Lori. She's been staying in some crappy up-State orphanage for the last few months."

"Right... Satomi was your legal guardian." Stiles bites at her bottom lip, clearly uncomfortable.

"Right." Brett nods. And thankfully, for her, he seems to be paying more attention to what he's telling her. "Anyway, it was my birthday last week, so I can finally get her back." He smiles brightly, clearly overjoyed.

"That's awesome." Stiles manages a smile as she pushes all of those unwanted thoughts and memories away. "But um, my dad isn't home right now."

"He's not?" Brett frowns as he glances back towards the house. He's confused, because he can't scent the Sheriff for himself, as they speak, let alone hear his steady pulse thrumming from inside. That, and because she doesn't seem to be lying, as far as he can tell. In fact, she's seems almost oblivious.

Stiles nods. "So, um, h-have you seen Scott or Liam any of the others lately?"

"Yeah," Brett nods. "I was at Scott and Kira's place, like, an hour ago. A few of the others were there, too; Lydia, Liam and Malia." He grins at the memory. "They owed me a breakfast."

"You did?" Stiles would find that totally amusing any other time, but she's suddenly starting to feel like something isn't quite right here. "Um, h-how did Scott seem?"

"I dunno." Brett shoots her an odd look. "I mean, he was... Scott." He frowns, now slightly concerned, because he, too, is starting to sense something going on. Although, he's not so sure she's clued in, neither. "Are you okay, Stiles?"

Stiles quickly snaps herself out of it. She doesn't really know if anything is going on - well, anything weird anyway. "I'm fine." She says, and even manages another smile. But she's not fine. Not when her friends and family have stood her up and not even bothered to find her. She knows she deserves much, much worse, but she's still human and it still fucking hurts like a motherfucker!

"Are you sure?" Brett arches a brow. Because this time, he doesn't have to listen to her heart, he can already smell the miserably rolling off of her in overwhelming waves. But of course, he's part of the McCall pack now, sure, it's just that he doesn't really know Stiles, at least, not as well as the others, not as well as Scott, or Derek, even.

"Yeah, I'm just wiped. Jet-lag doesn't help, neither." Stiles smiles sheepishly. "And not killing people is kinda tiring on the soul."

Thankfully (for her) Brett chuckles at that, clearly amused. "Yeah," He nods. "I know."

Stiles arches a brow at him.

"Hey," Brett shrugs casually, though, he can't help grinning. "I'm Buddhist, but I'm still a werewolf."

Stiles rolls her eyes, but again, she can't help smiling in amusement.

"So, uh," Stiles doesn't want to spill her guts to the poor guy, so she decides to play it smart - or at least, casual, well, casually curious. "Where's everybody at right now?"

Too bad for her, it doesn't seem to work, because Brett instantly looks confused. "You haven't seen them since you got back?" He finds that VERY hard to believe.

"Not so much... No." Stiles smiles weakly.

"Huh." There's a rather thoughtful look on Brett's face. "I guess they're still mad at you." He doesn't mean to sound rude or, well, mean, so he's quick to follow up on that. "Between you and I, they've ALL been a LITTLE temperamental lately."

Stiles would ask what he means by that, but she's got bigger things on her mind at the moment. "So, um, where do you think they'll all be right now?"

"Oh, at the high school, most probably." Brett rolls his eyes, clearly bored with the topic already. "Everybody's all about the stupid high school, just 'cause it's the center-point of the this stupid town..." He grins sheepishly. "No offence."

"None taken." Stiles waves a dismissive hand, because she totally agrees with him on that. This town IS stupid. And while she's at it, magic is stupid, too!

"Anyway," Brett continues. "Scott's got some kind of job there helping junior deviants, Derek's there, too, doing construction on the new gym, Chris has gone insane in the school basement, Malia moved in with her mother a few towns over -"

"Wait -" Stiles cuts him off, because he says it so casually that she almost misses it. "Chris has gone what in school what-ment?"

"Insane..." Brett stares calmly back at her. "Base."

"Okay..." Stiles stares back at him, not quite sure of what she should think. "Um... What the fuck?"

"Yeah, it's uh," Brett sighs tiredly. "It's a recent development."

Stiles still doesn't know what the fuck, but she's damn sure that she's going to find out. Even if it kills her. Which, let's face it, she kind of wouldn't even mind...

"You should probably go to the school." Brett says. "I know Scott's the Alpha, but he's kind of a mess without you by his side... In fact, they all are."

Stiles wants to scoff at that, but she doesn't. "Well, Derek likes to wake up early, so he's probably there already."

Brett nods. "And you'll probably find Scott in his office."

"Thanks." Stiles nods and smiles gratefully. "Hey, uh, need a lift anywhere, dude?"


	5. You Need Permission

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "You," Chris points at her - the hunter is shirtless, his torso riddle with bloody scratches and many blue or purple bruises. "You need permission to be here. You need a special slip with a-a stamp!" His baby blue eyes are wide and slightly mental-looking, and they no longer hold the usual life-filled glow - another thing that Stiles knows she can blame herself for.

After driving Brett home, Stiles makes her way to the high school. When she gets there, however - it's a Tuesday - but the entire place seems to be completely vacant, starting the parking lot. She pulls up anyway, hops out and quickly makes her way through the campus. She soon sees the building site - where the old gym used to stand - only that, too, is completely empty.

"Derek? Are you here?"

Stiles glances around, waiting for a moment and when she receives no answer, she walk over to the ladder and climbs down into the lower grounds of the dusty site. She walks further on and when she turns the first corner of the restraining wall, her eyes instantly land on the fresh corpse of a human. But what gets her the most is the fact that the body has been completely skinned, and probably, she thinks, alive.

+

"No skin." Scott notes as he stares down at the poor teenager's blood-splattered corpse.

Derek nods. "Tough to look at."

"And yet my eyes refuse to look away." Lydia huffs. "Stupid eyes." She grumbles, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Lydia found him first thing this morning." Derek says. "I gave my crew the day off and then, called you."

"I object to being the one who finds the bodies all the damn time." Lydia scowls, but both the werewolves can't help smirking slightly in amusement.

"And I REALLY need to get a job where I don't get called away for THIS kinda stuff." Scoff scowls then, also as he motions towards the teen corpse.

Derek's about to open his mouth to make a smartass comment, only he stops when he hears - what sounds like - the ladder/entry to the site rattling.

"What?" Lydia asks, immediately noticing his expression.

Scott obviously hears it, too, whatever it is scuffling away from them. He suspects that maybe it was whatever murdered this poor kid.

+

It all becomes too much for Stiles as the memories of what she did to Satomi - and almost did to Scott begin to flood her mind.

She quickly turns away, tearing her gaze away from the corpse. She hurries even quicker back across the site and hauls herself back up the ladder as quickly as fricking possible.

+

"There's nothing there." Derek reports as he walks back over to the other two.

"Maybe you're both just hearing things." Lydia suggest with disinterest.

"At the same time?" Derek arches a brow, shooting her an "are you stupid?" look.

Lydia merely rolls her eyes in response. "Whatever. So, what're we thinking?" She asks, motioning to the corpse. "Do we think Stiles might be up to her old tricks again?"

"No." Derek glares at the redhead. "She wouldn't just kill at random, even if she was. It's not her style."

"Her style?" Lydia arches a brow. "Evil Stiles is inspired by Crazy Stiles. And crazy people are reckless and unpredictable!" She snaps, because she's sick of people denying the dreadful possibility. She doesn't want to believe it, but still, she can't know for sure, none of them can. She's just the only one with the guts to say it.

"No." Scott scowls at her. "No, I'm with Derek."

Lydia shoots them both a glare before storming off with a loud huff.

+

Stiles goes back to the sanctuary of her Jeep to recover from her little episode and also, to hide away from the world, just for a few moments. When she's finally pulled herself back together, she makes her way back into the high school.

By now, the students are all sifting through the hallways, making their way to their next classes.

Stiles shuffles through them all, walking among them without being bothered, thankfully. She's not in high school anymore, hasn't been for a while, but she's scared of people right now, let alone fricking teenagers. After turning a few corners, she then, finally gets to the door reading; 'BASEMENT. NO STUDENTS ALLOWED.'

Stiles closes the door quietly behind her and descends the stairs. She walks around for a little bit more in the rather large and almost pitch black room, glancing at the various boxes and shelves full of useless or broken objects.

"Out!"

Stiles gasps in fright, stepping back when a tall figure suddenly leaps out at her from within the darkness.

"Get out! This is MY place!"

Stiles' eyes widen when she finally registers that this is in fact - "Chris? My God..."

"You," Chris points at her - the hunter is shirtless, his torso riddle with bloody scratches and many blue or purple bruises. "You need permission to be here. You need a special slip with a-a stamp!" His baby blue eyes are wide and slightly mental-looking, and they no longer hold the usual life-filled glow - another thing that Stiles knows she can blame herself for.

"Chris,"

"You," Chris points at her again, but he's not really looking at her, more looking through her. "You go off and try to wall up the bad parts and put your heart back in where it fell out." He chuckles and shakes his head as he runs a hand through his dishevelled, blonde locks. "You call yourself finished, but you're... You're not. You're... You're worse than ever, you're..."

Stiles watches him with wide eyes as he paces for a few moments and then stops and tilts his head, still silent and pensive.

Chris shuffles closer towards her, though, slightly off to the side. He stares at the wall behind her, where the stairs are and shuffles a little further with a slightly confused expression on his heavily stubbled face.

Stiles watches him as he shuffles a little bit passed her and stares towards the stairs she'd just walked down.

Chris sighs, glances down towards his bare and grubby feet with a slightly bashful expression now spreading across his face. "You went away." His tone is filled with sadness, but he's still smiling slightly. "You've been gone since..."

"Right." Stiles finally snaps herself out of her stupor. "I, uh, I had to go away, but I'm back now. And I... I found a body."

Chris hums. "Tragedy." He nods, seemingly acknowledging what she's told him. He glances over his shoulder to look at her. "Is there blood?"

Stiles frowns, still highly confused. "Uh, yeah. And I, I can't find Scott or Derek or Lydia." She bites her bottom lip for a second there to keep the heartache from simply making her cry like a little bitch. "And this thing, whatever it is, is killing people. And the victim was..." She gulps. "Skinned... Alive, I think..."

Chris hums again, but nods in acknowledgment again.

"What... What do you think has the power to do that?" Stiles asks, her voice (understandably) timid.

"You did, once." Chris simply points it out, nothing more, but it still makes her flinch, though, he doesn't seem to notice. "I heard about it."

"Yeah..." Stiles mumbles. "Anything o-other... Than, um, me?"

Chris is no longer facing her, instead, he's facing the stairs again, with his back mostly towards her at an odd ninety degree angle. He smiles sweetly all of a sudden and it's clear that he's no longer talking to her. "Look at you..." He breathes out in complete awe. "Glowing." His smile widens. "What's that word mean? - "Glowing"? Gotta, gotta rhyme."

"Chris?" Stiles takes a tiny step towards him.

"Oh, ah, n-no." Chris shakes his head furiously as he averts his gaze to the ground and turns away from the stairs as well as Stiles. "I, I should hide. Hide from you. Hide my face... You, you know what I did."

"What you did?" Stiles is, again, completely lost. Although, he IS crazy - apparently, so it's not really her fault. For once.

"What I did." Chris nods, though, he's still looking shamefully at the floor.

"But..." Stiles frowns. "You didn't DO anything..." Her eyes widen slightly in dread. "Did you?"

Chris is silent for a moments as he stares rather curiously between the stairs and Stiles. "Everybody's talking me, but nobody's talking to each other."

Stiles sighs tiredly. "Look, Chris, just PLEASE try to listen to me here -"

Chris shuffles closer to her, now looking a little more confident. He stops about a meter away from her and stares curiously for a few seconds before bursting out into a fit of chuckles.

Stiles arches a brow, staring at him as if he's gone insane. Which... He has, clearly.

"SOMEone isn't here." Chris announces proudly, like he's the first to shout out a correct answer in class. "Button, button, button. WHO has the button?" He grins at her. "My money's on the spark."

+

Derek frowns in both confusion and annoyance as he locks the school basement door behind him.

"What is it?" Scott asks, the Alpha clearly noticing his mood. Also, he uses the magic of his eyeballs to see that infamous scowl on "sourwolf's" face.

"I swear I locked this door." Derek says as he descends the stairs first, with the Alpha and the banshee following closely behind him.

"Maybe Chris got out." Lydia suggests as she glances around the darkness in dread.

"No, he's here." Scott says. "Somewhere." He adds as he, too, glances warily around for the crazy ex-hunter.

Lydia feels very relieved to hear that, VERY relieved, indeed. It's probably no secret to the werewolves - because much to her annoyance, the smug turds can smell every-fucking-thing a person does or even feels, if the emotion is strong enough. But thankfully, for her, none of them had ever even mentioned it to her. Although, she's also not sure if she should be worried about that or not...

"And unfortunately," Derek adds with a huff. "We can't use the blueprints to find our way around down here. It's like the walls move or something."

"They probably literally do, knowing OUR luck." Lydia grumbles.

"Out!"

Pausing in the middle of the staircase, the trio's eyes widen as they glance to one another at the sound of the hunter's voice.

"Get out! This is MY place!"

"Okay, yeah," Lydia nods as her eyes catch the hunter blonde locks flashing through the darkness. "He's here."

"You, you need permission to be here. You need a special slip with a-a stamp."

Scott stares at the hunter, whose bare back is facing the Alpha as he looks to be talking to someone - someone who isn't there. The Alpha sighs sadly as he watches the insane man talk at the opposite wall.

"- and put your heart back in where it fell out." Chris chuckles and shakes his head as he runs a hand through his dishevelled, blonde locks. "You call yourself finished, but you're... You're not. You're... You're worse than ever, you're..."

The trio watch as the he paces for a few moments and then stops and tilts his head, still silent and pensive.

Chris turns, glancing towards the trio finally. He then shuffles closer towards the staircase, towards them, with a slightly confused expression on his heavily stubbled face. He sighs, glances down towards his bare and grubby feet with a slightly bashful expression now spreading across his face. "You went away." His tone is filled with sadness, but he's still smiling slightly. "You've been gone since..."

Lydia's chest tightens at his words and the gentle tone of them. But she says nothing, does nothing. The wolves keep quiet, too, and she's grateful for that.

Chris hums. "Tragedy." He nods and then glances over his shoulder, towards the opposite wall, again. "Is there blood?"

The trio glance towards one another, their emotions a mix of confusion, dread and curiosity.

Chris hums again, but nods, again, also.

There's another pause as the trio glance mostly in confusion, now.

"You did, once." Chris says. "I heard about it." He then, turns back to face the others, though, his blue gaze mainly rests on Lydia. "Look at you..." He breathes out in complete awe. "Glowing." His smile widens. "What's that word mean? - "Glowing"? Gotta, gotta rhyme."

Lydia's heart is racing now and she's sure that the wolves can hear it. Thankfully, Scott seems more confused than anything else, but unfortunately for her, she assumes since she told Stiles, Stiles told Derek, because -

Derek let's out a low warning growl, flashing his eyes that familiar electric-blue for emphasis.

"Oh, ah, n-no." Chris shakes his head furiously as he averts his gaze to the ground and turns away from them all. "I, I should hide. Hide from you. Hide my face... You, you know what I did."

'What the fuck was THAT!?' Scott's scowling now, as he glances between them all.

And Lydia's simply trying to calm her racing pulse down, while Derek's still glaring over at the hunter. 'Oh, God, he knows... I am gonna KILL Stiles!'

"What I did." Chris nods, though, he's still looking shamefully at the floor.

"Wait - blood?" Scott finally registers what the hunter said. "He knows about the body."

"We don't know that." Lydia mumbles.

"Well, he might have seen it." Scott says.

"Yeah, except he's not being extra useful today." Derek grunts, still glaring at the hunter. Because yes, of course he knows, because yes, of course Stiles told him.

Chris is silent for a moments as he stares rather curiously between the stairs and opposite wall. "Everybody's talking me, but nobody's talking to each other."

Derek sighs. "Let's just go. We're not gonna get anything helpful out of him."

The trio slink slowly back up the stairs as Chris shuffles closer towards the back wall. He stares curiously at it before suddenly bursting into a fit of chuckles. "SOMEone isn't here. Button, button, button. WHO has the button?" He grins. "My money's on the spark."

The trio stop at the hunters last two words. They glance towards him briefly before turning towards one another, all wearing a terribly worried expression.

Chris chuckles again, still staring at the opposite wall, his back towards them. "Freckles has been a BAD girl."

"He's talking about Stiles." Scott says.

Chris scoffs. "They think YOU did it - Little Red and her two lap-dogs."

"What!?" Scott glares at the hunter, clearly offended.

And now, it's Derek's heart that's racing. Although, it out of concern and sheer terror. He knows that he would know if something bad were to happen, deep down. But it still doesn't stop him worrying.

"Chris!" Lydia snaps angrily.

This seems to gain the hunter's attention as he glances towards her with wide eyes.

"Have you seen Stiles or not?" Lydia asks him, arching an expectant brow.

Chris simply shakes his head. "I, I have to go now. There are things down here without permission." He mumbles as he slowly backs away. "I, I have to check their slips. Make sure they have authorisation..."


	6. A Little Sexy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Brett gives her a grateful smile in return and there's a few seconds of comfortable silence between them before the werewolf's lips curl back up into a cheeky grin. "It DID kinda get a LITTLE sexy there for a second, didn't it?"

Stiles searches high and low for her friends and her father for near enough the entire day, but she still doesn't find a single one of them. It's like they've disappeared off of the face of the Earth or something. Or maybe, she thinks, just maybe they're avoiding her (which would make sense, to her anyway). And again, she wouldn't blame them, but it doesn't stop her from hurting on the inside.

In the evening, then, Stiles simply drives back to Brett's apartment - the one familiar face she's seen since she got back home. She knocks on the werewolf's front door and when he opens it, she doesn't waste anymore time. "I need your help."

"I don't have any money." Is the first thing that Brett says, bluntly, but not harshly.

Stiles scrunches her face up at him. "I don't want money." She says before sauntering passed him.

"Please, come in and enjoy my personal space." Brett mumbles sarcastically under his breath as he closes the door and follows her into his living room.

"I found a dead body at the high school." Stiles states.

"Yes," Brett nods. "That can happen. It happens a lot, actually."

Stiles nods, too, because... Yeah, it really does happen a lot. "Something killed a teenage boy - ripped his skin right off."

There's a split second pause before both their eyes widen as they stare at one another. "Was it YOU!?" They both ask in unison, then glaring at each other and exclaiming; "NO!"

Brett scoffs lightly. "Well, no offence, but with the whole skinning thing - they're probably gonna think that it's you. Even Scott probably will, too..."

Stiles nods at that, too. "Yeah... I mean, maybe he already does... Maybe they all do..." Maybe, she thinks, that's why they're avoiding her. "I just, I need to find whatever the heck it is that did this. I just..." She sighs sadly. "I need to do something right."

"Is that REALLY the reason?" Brett arches a brow, shooting her a knowing look, though, he's not smug about it. "Or it is REALLY that you don't want them to think it was you? I mean, that HAS to be at least a part of it. Maybe you're even thinking you kill this thing and they don't ever have to know about the entire thing. Won't even suspect you, even for a second."

Stiles narrows her eyes, even if she's slightly in awe of this kid's hidden intelligence. He kind of reminds her of himself there, and of Lydia, too, a little bit. "Since when the hell did you get all insightful?" She grumbles out, though, her expression is lightly playful.

Brett smiles pleasantly. "I'm surprisingly sensitive."

Stiles can't help the loud snort of amusement and chokes slightly as she quickly tries to cover it up when the werewolf glares half-heartedly at her. "Will you help me or not?"

Brett sighs loudly in defeat. "If I do, will it be difficult or incredibly time-consuming?"

+

"Okay, so I looked up demons that skin their victims alive and there are already, like, a million possibilities here." Kira says as she types away on her laptop. "Was anything else missing from the body?"

"Just the skin." Derek replies distractedly, his nose buried in a large, leather-bound book.

Kira merely nods to herself as she flickers through the web pages.

After a few more moments, Derek slaps the book shut with an annoyed huff.

"What's up?" Lydia asks, eyeing the wolf with a little concern. He looks really tired, she thinks, well, more so than usual.

"I just -" Derek let's out another huff as he gives off that infamous scowl of his. "I NEED to do SOMEthing. I can't stand sitting around, doing nothing. There's some crazyass demon killing kids, again, and Stiles is still missing -"

"And we WILL get her back." Lydia cuts, shooting him a "don't argue with me" look.

"Yeah," Kira nods, wearing a small, but bright grin. "Stiles was right when she said that we don't like to lose."

Lydia smirks, but also nods in agreement to that. Because duh, she was the only one out of them who was actually there to here Stiles say it.

And Derek really can't help smiling at that. How can he not? Sure, Lydia helped, too, but it was Stiles brain behind the plan to save him. And sure, she didn't know at the time that said plan was pointless, but it's the thought that counts. She's always trying to save him. Well, she's always trying to save everybody (when she isn't trying to skin them alive), but he's still touched, nonetheless.

+

Brett quickly pulls the curtains across his bedroom window, blocking the early evening sunlight and anybody else from the outside world from seeing. He turns back and walks to the center of his bedroom, where Stiles is already sat on the floor, in the middle of nine lit candles circling her. He quickly grabs the map of the town from his bed and carefully hops into the circle, sitting right opposite her.

Stiles takes the map from him, unfolds it and places it on the floor, between them.

"This isn't going to get all sexy, is it?" Brett asks bluntly, though, he can't help the teasing smirk lingering at the corners of his lips as he does.

Stiles puffs out an amused chuckle. "I'd be kinda shocked if it did."

"Only kinda shocked?" Brett asks, wearing a small, but cheeky grin. He's clearly joking, but he's a guy - not to mention a werewolf - and he can appreciate. Although, not too much. Not unless he wants Derek to rip his throat out, that is. He's not stupid, of course...

"Have you ever done magic before?" Stiles asks.

"A little." Brett replies with a casual shrug.

"Good enough." Stiles smiles. "Do you have your powder?"

"No, I ate it." Brett says, both his tone and expression dead serious.

Stiles simply shoots him a withering look.

Brett grins. "I have it." He says as he reveals the small leather pouch from his back pocket.

"Okay, so we scatter the powder over the map of Beacon Hills," Stiles explains as she grabs her own powder. "And everywhere there's an evil, supernatural creature, a little light appears."

"Ohh, pretty!" Brett smiles, for a split second. "Wait -" His eyes then, quickly narrowing. "Will it hurt my new carpet?"

Stiles rolls her eyes. "No."

"Okay, good. Please, continue." Brett nods, clearly satisfied.

"Okay, just gimme a second..." Stiles trails off as she closes her eyes for a few moments to clear her thoughts. "Okay," She nods, opening her eyes as she opens the small pouch, as well. "Scatter."

Both Stiles and Brett gently douse the map with the powder from their separate pouches. Merely seconds later then, several individual dots of light glow in various places on the map. Although, there is a heavy concentration of the tiny, glowing orbs in the center of the map.

"Ohh!" Both Stiles and Brett let out a soft cooing as they stare in awe down at the tiny orbs.

"Hey, what's that huge clump?" Brett asks, staring curiously as he points towards the mass of tiny orbs.

"The high school." Stiles doesn't even have to check the map for certain to know for certain, because she already does. "It's the center-point of the town, so I guess it makes since the mouth of fricking Hell lurks beneath."

"Huh." Brett frowns. "Hey, uh... Is it getting brighter?"

Stiles' eyes widen as the map suddenly bursts into flames altogether, the little orbs rapidly building until it could take no more. "Holy crap! Smoke!"

"Damn it, Stiles!" Brett hisses as he scrambles up onto his feet and hops carefully back out of the candle-lit circle.

Stiles quickly hauls herself up onto her feet, too. Though, she's a lot more calm as she simply puts the fire out with one light clap of her hands.

Brett glares over at her. "Okay - remember our previous little talk about my new carpet!?"

"I'm REALLY sorry." Stiles says. "I'll pay for it, I promise."

"Yeah, you will." Brett huffs, but doesn't make too much of a fuss about it, for now anyway.

Stiles simply nods in response. She bends down to pick up the map and stares at the large, now burnt out hole in the middle of it.

Brett walks over to switch his bedroom light back on. "So, did the spell work or not?" He asks as goes over and crouches down to blow all of the candles out.

"I think so, yeah." Stiles nods as she glances towards one burnt spot in particular, aside from the large hole in the map, this spot is a little bigger than the rest. "This could be the one." She says as she points to the spot she's staring at. "It's got a real strong aura and it's all by itself, and it's still near the high school."

Brett nods as he glances to the spot on the map. "Looks like it's hiding in the forest."

"Yeah," Stiles nods. "There are a couple of good caves to take cover in around there."

Brett can hear the suggestion in her voice and he's already one step ahead of her. "I don't know." He says, clearly unconvinced. "This plan sounds pretty stupid to me. I mean, I know you went all badass and tried to destroy the world, but you said you're not doing that anymore, and you're still human."

"Well, that's where YOU come in..." Stiles trails off with a hinted look and a sheepish smile.

Brett scoffs. "No. Sorry, but you damaged my new carpet."

Stiles scoffs back. "And I said I'd pay for it!"

"No." Brett says. "I'm not a fighter."

"I don't need you to fight, I just need you to pick up a scent. I'll do the rest, I promise. You can leave as soon as we find this thing." Stiles begs him with large, pleading eyes.

"As it turns out, being a werewolf without an Alpha is actually really fricking hard. And since Scott is my Alpha now, I guess I have to make sure you're safe." Brett sighs loudly, because he already knows that he's going to go with her. He knows Scott would probably skin him alive himself if he let her go by herself. Besides, he kind of doesn't have the heart to abandon her, like the others seem to have. He still doesn't understand what the hell happened for that to happen, but he knows that he feels rather sympathetic towards her for it.

"I'm sorry, Brett. I really am." Stiles says, regret filling her entire expression.

"Yeah," Brett nods limply. He's over being angry with her. "It sucks real bad... And being a werewolf itself? It's not as fulfilling as I thought it would be."

"Really?" Stiles arches a brow, looking quite surprised by that. "'Cause I kinda got the impression that you enjoyed inflicting pain." She shoots him a playful glare. "Especially on the lacrosse field."

Brett grins lightly with amusement. "Well, being real strong and causing pain with it SOUNDS really cool and everything, I know, but as it happens, it turns out that it's actually really upsetting... Didn't used to be."

"Yeah," Stiles nods, because she knows, of course she does. "And it's even worse when you hurt the ones you love... Sometimes it's like, you're actually scared of losing that feeling again, and that having it be okay to hurt people, and then, you're not in control of the power anymore, because it's in control of you..." She suddenly cuts herself off when she realises how much she's ranted out already, that she already probably said too much.

Thankfully, though, Brett seems to give her a considering and rather impressed look before he sighs and nods his agreement. "Kinda over-dramatically stated, but..." He smiles sadly. "Yeah."

"I get it, believe me, I do... And I'll do anything to make things right for you again, Brett," Stiles tells him with the utmost conviction in her voice and sincerity in her eyes. "But first, I need your help to make it right with the others."

Brett sighs tiredly, but nods again. "Okay."

Stiles offers a small, but grateful smile in return.

"I'm sorry, Stiles." Brett says, his own voice now filled with sincerity. "I wish things were better for you."

Stiles' smiles widens slightly as she nods. "You, too, bro'.

Brett gives her a grateful smile in return and there's a few seconds of comfortable silence between them before the werewolf's lips curl back up into a cheeky grin. "It DID kinda get a LITTLE sexy there for a second, didn't it?"

Stiles rolls her eyes, but she also really can't help laugh at that. "Come on," She says as she heads towards the front door. "I gotta find this monster."

"Wait!" Brett races after her. "Isn't there another spell that you can do? I mean, if you're trying to find Scott and the others, why not just do a spell?"

"I tried." Stiles says, shooting him a "duh" look. "The spell went all weird everytime I tried... I just, I don't think it worked."

Brett eyes her suspiciously. "Well, what'd it say?"

Stiles sighs sadly. "It said that they don't exist."

+

"You've been huffing about for the last hour. What's wrong with you?" Derek asks bluntly as he plops down on his couch beside the Alpha. And when the Alpha glances towards him, he arches a brow for emphasis.

Scott sighs tiredly as he leans his head back and glares at the ceiling. "I just... I have the feeling that we know exactly who did this and that all of this research and stuff that we're doing here is just a way for us to convince ours that Stiles is really okay."

Derek merely nods, taking in his words.

Scott shoots him an odd look. "You really don't think it's her, do you?"

"I KNOW it's not her." Derek says.

"How?" Scott asks, looking rather helpless. He doesn't want to believe it's her, but he has to be realistic here, because it's a possibility, even if it's a really thin one.

Derek shrugs limply, but of course he knows how.

"Is it because she's your mate and you can sense it deep down?" Scott asks bluntly.

Derek arches a brow at the Alpha.

Scott smirks smugly. "I'm not as stupid as you think I am, y'know?"

"Really?" Derek mutters under his breath with a roll of his eyes.

Scott chuckles. "Yes, really."

"Guys! I got one! I got a good one!" Kira announces as she rushes over with a large and heavy-looking book open in her arms. "It's a demon called "Gnarls". He's a parasite demon with these nasty, long fingernails." She says, reading the facts from the page. "He secretes something through them, using it to paralyse his victims. He then, cuts fine strips of their skin, while they're still alive." Her eyes widen in horror. "It takes hours and the victim dies painfully and slowly... Well, at least when Stiles did it, it was over in a split second." She says with a sheepish smile as she glances up towards the two werewolves.

"That sounds absolutely disgusting." Lydia pipes up from her research point - sat at the top of the spiral staircase with books and newspaper clippings surrounding her.

Kira nods her agreement, her eyes still slightly widened.

"We didn't find any strips of skin, though." Scott notes up at the redhead. "Which, by the way," He glances back to his girlfriend and shudders. "Ew."

Kira can't help smiling in amusement. And she can't help thinking how utterly adorable he is when he scrunches his face up like that. It makes her want to squeal out loud, but somehow, she manages to contain herself. "You wouldn't. Gnarls eats the strips of skin." She explains. "That's why he's a parasite, it's his natural food."

"Gross." Derek mutters, his nose slightly upturned at the mere thought.

"Have you ever heard of him, Derek?" Kira asks. She feels she has to, because she knows he's the one with the most experience. Well, besides Peter, but he's a entirely different story. An entirely useless different story.

"Nope." Derek shakes his head. He probably would have, if his mother weren't dead, that is. She'd probably have known. But sadly, he only knows so much, whatever she's taught him and whatever Peter ever felt like teaching him, for his own selfish convenience, of course.

"Look, Kira," Scott sighs as he stands up slowly and moves towards her. "You're a little newer at all of this than the rest of us, and I get why you're proud here, but we're not even exactly sure why this demon could be any more likely than the others." His voice is soft, because he wants her to know that he's not angry and also, that he's not talking down to her, because he's really not. He's just trying to be real, because Stiles is usually the one who does that, while he has his head stuck up his ass. He loves Kira with all of his heart, soul, body and mind, but he still feels terribly lost without Stiles by his side. His heart simply aches for her to be there with him, and if he feels like that, then he really does feel sorry for Derek.

Kira is about to open her mouth to agree with him, except, she suddenly notices that he's saying all of this because he's afraid, not because he really believes what he's saying. Okay, she knows he does think it could be Stiles still, just a little bit, but she understands why. Practicality, it's happened before and it's possible that it could happen again. But they still don't know for sure, none of them do. So, she suddenly feels very defiant, willing to defend Stiles to the very last stand, even if Scott's already kind of given up. "You never said there was a pool of blood."

Scott shoots her a confused look for the quick change of the topic. "There was no pool." He says finally, after a few moments. "Just splatters."

Kira's lips instantly spread into a wide and triumphant grin. "Then, THIS," She points to the book still in her grasp, to the black and white sketch of the hideous creature. "Is our guy."

"Lemme see." Derek rises from the couch and stands beside her to take a look. She seems pretty sure of herself, he thinks, so that's enough to keep him interested.

"He laps up the blood." Kira explains as she hands the book over to Derek. "You could say it's like his natural beverage or something equally as grotesque."

"You're terrifying when you're smart." Scott stares at her with wide eyes.

Kira simply smirks. "Now, if we just knew how to find this thing..."

"Uh, we have two wolves here." Lydia pipes up.

"Hey! We are NOT your lap-dogs!" Scott shoots her a half-hearted glare.

Lydia merely rolls her eyes, but she can't help secretly smiling.


	7. No Way Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gnarls cackles loudly. "No way out, now... No way out for you..."

After a small argument with Brett, Stiles finally manages to make him take the Jeep and go. Although, of course, she demands that he return in an hour.

Stiles moves towards the cave - where Brett led her to, led by the scent of fresh human blood - probably the creatures latest victim. She moves through the small entrance, having to bend down a little to do so. Once she's inside, predictably, it's cold and creepy, but surprisingly, it's already lit with a few candles spread around in various places. Clearly, she thinks, someone or someTHING is here, even if she can't sense it. Yet...

Stiles wanders slowly around the small space and pauses only after a few steps as she hears a scurrying noise echoing all around her. And then, something speaks to her in the form of a taunting whisper.

"All alone..."

+

Lydia glances around the small cave with a clearly unimpressed expression. "Dark and dank." She huffs. "I was hoping it'd be dark and dank."

"Shh!" Derek raises his hand towards all of them, motioning to for them to stay quiet when he sudden hears a scurrying noise echoing all around them.

"Okay, holy shit, I hear that, too." Lydia mutters as she shrinks back behind Kira for protection.

"Guess we're in the right place." Kira mumbles as she slowly pulls out the small blade from the side of her left boot.

"Back to back, everybody." Scott orders and immediately, he and the other three all stand in a square, back to back. "Keep your eyes fricking open."

Lydia scoffs. "Duh."

+

Stiles is afraid, but she stands her ground, nonetheless. She's been through worse, of course, so she's not about to let this asshole see that she's practically one step away from crapping her panties. Though, of course, she also knows that he can probably smell the fear on her, if anything.

"Look at the shorn lamb..." The demon's cackle bounces from wall to wall.

Stiles' eyes dart all around her surroundings, trying to spot the little bastard, but she sees nothing. Not even a shadow.

"See how she trembles, so..." Gnarls continues to taunt her, his glowing, red orbs glued to her from his hidden place in the darkness. He knows these forests and these caves better than anyone else around here, so he knows she's got no hope. And the thought alone excites him ever so wonderfully. "Is it the cold wind? ...Or is it that the flock is nowhere to be seen?"

Stiles' heart is racing, because she realises that he knows, he knows all about her. How? How does he know all about her!? He knows that she's all alone, that her friends and family have all abandoned her.

"Poor, little lamb, all -"

+

"- Alone..."

"You guys hear that, right?" Kira asks with dread in her voice.

"Yep." Derek chirps as he keeps his eyes peeled and his ears keen, as always.

"It's echoing." Scott says. "I know it sounds close, but I don't think -"

As if on cue, Kira suddenly let's out a pain-filled squeal as a small, grey blur flashes passed her. She clutches her stomach as she then sinks to her knees.

"Kira!" Scott is crouching beside her within a split second as Derek and Lydia stand either side of the couple, in case the creature decides to attack again.

"I'm okay." Kira shoots her mate a reassuring smile. She's okay, except, she can feel her stomach already turning slightly numb and she knows what's happened. And so does Derek, if the annoyed scowl on his handsome face is anything to go by.

Scott quickly checks the wound and let's out a huge sigh of relief when he realises that it's not deep at all, but still deep enough to bleed a little. And the pretty blouse that he bought her for her last birthday is also fricking ruined.

"It's just a scrape." Kira says.

"Yeah, but I can smell the poison." Derek notes, giving her a look.

Scott nods. "Yeah, but you're not gonna die, right?" His eyes widen in alarm at the mere thought.

Kira chuckles and shakes her head. "No, but it doesn't wear off until the demon's dead."

"Wait, so you're stuck like this!?" Lydia hisses.

Kira smiles sheepishly as she nods, and she can already barely manage to do just that.

"Shit, it's already happening." Scott grumbles. "Quick, help me get her up."

Derek reaches down, Scott and he hoisting her back up onto her feet, but still supporting her already stiff limbs.

"We need to get her outta here, now." Scott says as he and Derek drag her as gently, but as quickly as possible back towards the entrance of the cave.

"But what about the demon?" Lydia squeals as she hurries after them, not wanting to be left behind for the thing to attack her, as fricking well.

"It's fine," Scott insists. "We'll seal him in and deal with him later."

+

"What's going on? Who's there? Hello!? Wait -" Stiles' heart races even more so as she suddenly sees that large rocks are being shoved up against the entrance to the cave. She instantly panics as she rushes towards it. "No! No!! Stop!"

Gnarls cackles loudly. "No way out, now... No way out for you..."

Stiles turns back to face the dimly-lit cave as she tries to calm herself down and clear her thoughts just enough. "'Protect me, oh, Goddess.'" She whispers quietly to herself. "'In thy name, I supplicate myself. Take the powers from my enemy, and lay him lower than the lowest field.'"

However, Gnarls simply cackles loudly again. "Gnarls LOVES spells..." He says, clearly teasing her, clearly shoving it down her throat that magic has no power over him whatsoever. "He keeps them as his pets... They LOVE him, too..." He laughs loudly and full-heartedly. "And they know to leave him ALL alone..."

Stiles now finds herself glaring defiantly into the darkness. "You may be immune to magic, but I've got more than that!" She challenges him, but she hasn't really planned further ahead than that. She's still scared, but she's also pissed off now. "You wanna fight, you little pussy!?" She yells, trying to at least sound intimidating. "Huh!?"

Gnarls only cackles again. "Your friends left you here..." He says in a sing-song voice.

Stiles' heart races again, but a whole different reason, this time. "My friends?" Her entire demeaner deflates after that.

"No one comes to save the poor, little lamb..."

"I don't need to be saved!" Stiles snaps. "I'll kill you myself!"

"They wanted me to have you..."

Stiles feels her heart ache, even though she knows it just a trick, that he's just trying top get under her skin, inside her mind. "They wouldn't that."

"Oh, but they already have..."

+

Scott and Derek continue to haul Kira through the forest, back to where Lydia's car is parked. Lydia runs ahead to start the car up.

"That book," Scott says. "That thing that Kira was reading," He glances across to Derek. "I know Kira said we have to kill the demon, but it still might have an antidote for the paralysis."

"Uh, Scott?" Kira forces out her words through her numbed lips.

"Yeah?" Scott arches a brow, staring curiously at her as they finally reach the car.

"I... 'Eally... 'Orry." Kira mumbles out. She tries to shoot him an apologetic look, but really, she knows her face isn't even moving.

"Oh, that's okay, baby. Don't worry about it." Scott shoots her a reassuring grin as he reaches for the back door.

"Yeah, you couldn't help it. The thing has paralysing fingernails." Derek agrees as he helps Scott lower her into the back-seat. "Which is still gross, by the way." He wrinkles his nose as he closes the door after Scott shuffles his way in after his girlfriend. He then opens the passenger's door and drops lazily into the car before shutting it.

"Exactly. Just like you said it would." Scott nods, his grin widening into a proud one. "So, good on you."

Kira tries to smile, then, mentally cursing herself when she remembers.

+

Stiles tries to follow the direction of the sounds as the demon scatters all around her, but she still hasn't seen so much as a shadow.

"Did they leave you as a little gifty-gift, just for me? ...Hmm?" Gnarls gives a mean-sounding snicker. "Are you a tasty, little gifty-gift, Genim?"

"Come out and fight like a demon!" Stiles roars, seeing red when he even has the nerve to use her name, the name her mother gave her, the only real thing she has left of her mother. How dare he!

Gnarls cackles loudly again as he continues to scamper around. And if there's one thing he's good at, it's moving at incredible speeds. Even the wolves won't catch him, he knows that. Although, he also knows that he's never faced an Alpha before, let alone a True one. Scott could have been the problem, but now, his plan has seemed to pay off. Stiles is the one he really wants. She's the one standing on the edge, pulled between the light and the dark and he finds her absolutely mouthwatering because of it. He feeds off of pain and doubt, long before he takes the skin, it's like a sort of appetiser, so to speak. And in fact, to him, Stiles is probably the most delicious he's had in a very long time, so he's not about to give her up. At least, not without a fight.

"Come on! What're you waiting for!? Huh!?" Stiles tries to taunt him out of hiding, but it still doesn't work for her. "Or maybe," She scoffs. "Maybe you're just scared."

Gnarls laughs loudly at that. "Or did they just throw you away? ...Hmm?"

Stiles' jaw tightens as he keeps on mentioning her friends. "Where are they!? What did you do to them!?"

"Me?" Gnarls laughs again.

"That's it!" Stiles huffs out loudly in frustration. "No more games!"

"No," Gnarls then, finally reveals himself. Though, again, it's only for a split second and in the form on a grey blur as he flashes passed her before disappearing off into the darkness again.

"Ah..." Stiles let's out a loud hiss of pain, her hands instantly clutching at the shallow, but still rather bloody cut now across her lower stomach.

+

Derek flinches suddenly, for no reason at all. Except, he suspects that he knows the actual reason. He can feel her; Stiles. It's the first time in a long time now, ever since she left for England, really. But it's clear - and painful - enough for him to take notice.

+

"W-what, what d-did you do to m-me?" Stiles' begins to feel a little woozy, her limbs going very numb, very quickly. "Where 'my friends!?"

"They were here..." Gnarls says as he waits. "Here they were... And there they went..." He says in a sing-song voice and he's clearly very pleased with himself. "Gone, all gone, oh, what a pretty, little song..."

Stiles finally feels her legs give way underneath her and she slowly goes sinking down onto her knees and then slumps even further until she's lying on her side. This is all very familiar to her, with the whole Jackson/Kanima catastrophe, so that's not what's making her panic. It's the fact that this time, she's all alone and no one is coming to save her.

Gnarls laughs again as he slowly crawls out of the shadows. "They sealed you in with me, my dear..." He crawls on his hands towards her until he's close enough to grab her ankle.

Stiles fights back the tears as he pulls her slowly towards him, until he's sitting right on top of her legs.

Gnarls stares down at her with his wide and curious, glowing red eyes. His skin is pasty and dry and scaly, his ears are long and pointed and as leathery as his wrinkle face. He smiles down at her as he leans his tiny, four foot frame closer, until his pointed nose is hovering over the wound on her stomach.

Stiles grits her teeth to contain her urge to scream as his long, curled fingernails dip into her open flesh. He's very delicate about it, but this poison, whatever it is, while it may numb her movement, she can still somehow feel every single fucking thing.

Gnarls' smile widens as he pushes her shirt up just enough and rips the first (of many) tiny bit of fresh flesh off and nibbles it down, savouring every single part of it. "Mmmm..." He grins down at her, letting her watch his every movement. "Gnarls LOVES a gifty-gift... Especially a spark... Sparks are the best..."

+

"Derek," Scott's the first one to notice, of course. "You okay?" He arches a brow at the older wolf, shoots him an odd, concerned sort of look."

"Lydia, turn the car around." Derek demands, giving her a "don't even try to argue with me" look.

Lydia huffs, slowly pulling up to turn around.

"Derek, what the hell?" Scott scowls at him. "We need to get Kira to safety first."

"There's no time." Derek says.

Kira wants to ask, but thankfully, Lydia asks for her. "What'd you mean? What's going on? What is it?"

"I-I think Stiles is looking for this demon, as well." Derek replies.

"What!?" Scott's eyes widen. "How'd you know THAT!?"

Derek shoots him a "you know how, idiot" look. Well, his looks are very expressive. Stiles has told him so, often. So there.

Scott huffs, but nods just as Lydia pulls the car up into the edge of the forest.

Lydia's eyes widen when she sees Stiles' Jeep pulling up a few feet from her car. "Is that -"

"Brett." Scott says. He doesn't have to look, he can simply scent him from where he sits.

"Brett?" The concern increases over Derek's expression as he quickly hops out of the car.

"Lydia," Scott shoots her a stern look. "You stay here and keep Kira safe."

"Yeah, no problem there." Lydia nods, not even wanting to argue. "Just find Stiles."

Scott nods, gives his girlfriend a quick kiss and hops out of the car after the eldest wolf.

+

Gnarls is still squatting over Stiles' legs, his fingernails playing around with the wound on her stomach. He slowly reaches forward, removes a strip of skin (about the size of a finger) and dangles it over his mouth. He then slowly sucks it, like spaghetti, savouring every single morsel of her raw, bloody flesh and he can almost taste the magic in her very fibres and it just makes it all the better for him. He groans loudly in pleasure, leaning forward to lick at her blood-splatter belly.

Stiles whimpers silently and she really does try to tear her eyes away, but she really fucking can't! And that just makes things so much fucking worse for her.

"Gnarls makes such pretty pictures..." He says as he reaches forward and slices into her again. "It's real easy when you know how... It's easy when everyone helps you... They helped me, your friends..." He grins as he licks her blood from the tips of his fingernails. "Too bad there's no one to save YOU..."

Stiles' tries, but finally feels her tears sliding down the sides of her head and into her hair as she silently cries and prays for death. It's not like anybody would miss her, she thinks.

+

"I'm sorry," Brett laughs, but he's not amused, not one little bit. "I just - it sounded like you said, "Gnarls"."

"You know about him?" Scott asks, clearly surprised.

"Yeah," Brett nods. "Satomi told me all about him. She told me a lot, actually." His eyes widen in realisation and then, there's a look of horror on his face. "Shit! I let Stiles go in there alone!"

"What!?" Both Derek and Scott snap, though, Derek sounds more outraged rather than the terror that Scott's suddenly feeling.

"Are you fucking high or are you just out of your fucking mind!?" Derek roars as he launches forward and grabs the younger Beta by the throat.

Brett's eyes widen as he somehow shrinks back in the older wolf's grasp.

"Derek!" Scott snaps, glaring over at him. "Stiles needs us!" He shoves passed both the Betas, already breaking into a run as he draws closer to the cave; the one he sealed his best fucking friend forever in, with a God damn fucking demon that eats human flesh. "So stop fucking around and move your sour ass before I move it for you!"


	8. You're Gonna Be Okay

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "It's okay, Stiles. You're gonna be okay." Derek says, though, he's mostly trying to convince himself.

"I hope they find Stiles in time." Lydia bites nervously at her perfectly, red-polished fingernails as she glances towards the cave, a few meters away from where they are parked up.

Kira's eyes widen in a little panic as she begins to feel her entire body sliding forward, face-first. "'Idia! 'Idia!"

"Wha -" Lydia's eyes widen in alarm, but when she turns around in the driver's seat, she can't help laughing at the position the kitsune is in.

+

Stiles is still laying in the same position, on the ground, paralysed and in a tremendous amount of pain. And of course, she's still only human, even as a spark, she's mostly only human and she can't help crying silently to herself, for that is all that she can do.

Gnarls is still sitting on top of her legs, as if pinning her down, not that he even needs to. He reaches forward every few minutes and slowly strips off another small piece of her skin, all seven layers, down to the muscle and he's already got through the lower part of her belly.

"They wouldn't leave me... They wouldn't..." Stiles mumbles barely make it passed her lips as the hot tears slide down her cold cheeks.

Gnarls only laughs at this. "They don't want you... Lock you in, pretty, white skin..." He says in a sing-song voice, clearly taunting her again. "And if they DO return, where will they find you?" He grins big, his eyes glowing and his teeth all bared for her to see. "Inside me, you shall already be."

It's then, as if on cue that the wolves come bursting back into the cave, the pieces of rock scattering everywhere. Only, Stiles doesn't know what the heck is going on.

Gnarls quickly backs off of Stiles, only leaving her confused. That is, until she finally sees Brett.

"What the fuck!?" Derek roars, glaring over at the demon.

"Where the fuck is she!?" Scott roars at the same time.

"She's right here! What the f - can't you see her!?" Brett cries as he runs over to her.

"What? Where?" Scott glances towards the ground, where Brett is crouched over... Nothing.

"Fuck! She's hurt real bad!" Brett exclaims in a panic.

Derek doesn't need anymore confirmation than that, he finally knows what the fuck is going on and he doesn't waste anymore time. He simply then, launches himself at the demon with a ferocious snarl.

Scott's torn between helping Derek and going over to Brett, in the end he quickly decides on both, but the latter first. He rushes over to Brett and crouches down beside him. "Where is she!?" He exclaims as he feels the dirt ground for himself.

"Stop that! Your hand is going right through her head!" Brett snaps as he quickly snaps the Alpha's hands away. "What the fuck is going on here!?"

"I have no idea," Scott says. "But I guess we know why we haven't been seeing her."

"Because we haven't been seeing her!" Derek snarls in retaliation and dodges out of the way as Gnarls tries to swipe him with his poisonous fingernails.

"Remember what I said!" Brett yells over to the older Beta. "Get him in the eyes!"

"Stay with her." Scott shoots Brett a look, who nods furiously in response. The Alpha then, quickly launches himself into action, beside his fellow pack mate.

"B-Brett..."

Brett's expression softens as he glances down to her. "Hey... Wow..." He frowns, clearly concerned and a little awkward. "You're really hurt..."

Stiles tries so desperately to move, but she still can't, and she's also barely managing not to pass the fuck out here. "W-what's going on?"

"Oh, well, uh," Brett smiles lightly. "Scott and Derek are over there," He points. "Fighting the demon."

"I can't see them." Stiles sees the demon fighting... Something.

"I know," Brett nods. "But they're here, I promise. And Lydia and Kira are waiting just outside."

"They came?" Stiles can't help it if she sounds like a total girl right now. "They didn't leave me?"

Brett smiles brightly and shakes his head. "No, they didn't leave you. They just can't see you."

Stiles smiles brightly also, well, on the inside anyway. "They came." Her words are trembling as they edge slowly passed her equally trembling lips. "They're here. I'm not alone."

"Of course you're not." Brett says, wearing a slight frown. "But if they get too close, I may have to run."

Stiles actually finds it in herself to feel like smiling again at that. "F... Fair enough."

Scott lands a hard punch to the demon's face. He quickly grabs Kira's small blade from his pocket and raises it towards the demon's face.

Gnarls growls and barges the Alpha out of the way, then, advancing straight towards the other wolf.

However, this time, Derek is ready for him. The wolf grabs the demon with both hands by the head and quickly plunges his thumbs into the demon's eye-sockets.

Gnarls screeches out loudly in pain for only a few seconds before there is a loud cracking sound and then, he stops moving altogether.

"Ew. Thumbs?" Scott wrinkles his nose is disgust. "I can't believe you did that."

Derek merely rolls his eyes and he shoves the demon's now lifeless corpse to the ground. He glances down at the black substance of the demon's blood, wrinkling his nose also before quickly wiping his thumbs on his jeans.

"What happened!?" Stiles asks, her eyes wide with both curiosity and fear.

"Oh, Derek killed the demon. It was really gross." Brett tells her, his tone completely casual.

"I can..." Stiles smiles and this time, she can actually feel her cheeks moving a little. "I can move..."

Brett smiles back. "Yeah, you're smiling."

Both Scott and Derek hurry back over to them.

"Stand back." Brett scowls up at the Alpha. "You're getting your feet in her head, now." He says as he huffs lightly and shakes his head.

"She's alive?" Derek knows, but he needs to hear it out loud.

Brett gives the older Beta a reassuring smile and nods. "She's hurt pretty badly, though." He says with a frown as he rises to his feet. "I'm gonna go get help."

Scott nods. "See if Kira's okay, too?"

Brett nods and glances down to Stiles. "Stiles, I'll be right back, I'm gonna get you some help. I know you still can't see them, but Scott and Derek are right here beside you, okay?"

Stiles manages another faint smile. "Okay."

Brett smiles back before quickly dashing off.

Scott stares curiously down at the ground, where Stiles apparently is. "I think she's," He gestures with his hands. "Here-ish."

Derek simply ignores him. "Stiles?" He tentatively calls out to her. "I know you can't see us, and you probably can't hear us, either, but we're really glad that you're back. And I don't know how bad you're hurt, but -"

"Stiles?" Scott's eyes widen as she literally appears on the ground before them.

"- I couldn't find you and I-I looked everywhere and the demon said that you'd left me and -" Stiles feels her chest ache wonderfully as she glances up and finally sees the two wolves standing above her. "Oh, there you are." She smiles brightly up at them, despite the amount of pain she's in. "Don't go away!" She suddenly panics a little, thinking that this may just be a dream of hers. "Don't leave me, okay?"

"Oh, fuck." Scott hisses as he falls to his knees beside her.

"We're not going anywhere." Derek tells her as he crouches beside her, opposite the Alpha, who looks fairly distraught. Derek's chest aches unbearably, but he somehow manages to keep it together, for her. Always for her.

"I'm sorry, Gen. I'm so fucking sorry." Scott whispers as he gently pulls her into his lap and holds her close.

Stiles breathes out a deep sigh of relief and utter happiness as she clings onto him, like her fricking life depended on it.

"It's okay, Stiles. You're gonna be okay." Derek says, though, he's mostly trying to convince himself.

"I know." Stiles smiles up at the both of them. "You're here."


	9. Using Magic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stiles knows what he's getting at - he's afraid that if she uses magic again, she'll turn on him, again. "I'm using magic." She nods, because she's never been able to lie to him, for some (stupid) weird reason. "I'm drawing power from the Earth to heal myself."

Stiles is sitting on her bed in her pyjamas, in her old bedroom, that her father refuses to re-decorate, even though, she lives in her own apartment now. Ever since last night, she doesn't really feel like being alone. And even though Scott said he would stay with her, she felt bad about him having to ditch Kira for her. Of course, there was also Lydia and Malia, though, the redhead in particular, who were still texting her every other fricking minute of the day.

Stiles loves her friends and she's very grateful for them, but they are a real handful sometimes.

+

An hour later and Stiles is still sitting on her bed, cross-legged, eyes closed and thoughts trained. However, she can sense this particular werewolf a fricking mile away, and now, as he silently enters her open bedroom window, she can still feel him. But she doesn't let on. At least, not yet.

Derek's not quite sure what to do now that he's here. He simply stands by the window for a few moments, with only her back facing him. He watches, and though he knows that her eyes are closed, he's still not quite sure if she knows that he's there.

"Evening, Sourwolf."

Derek jumps slightly and instantly (mentally) curses himself for doing so. How very graceful he is for a werewolf, he thinks sarcastically.

Stiles smiles knowingly as her eyes flutter open and she slowly turns around on the bed to face him.

"Sorry..." Derek averts his gaze from hers, again, mentally cursing himself when he feels his cheeks heating up. "I, uh, I didn't mean to interrupt."

"It's okay." Stiles smiles when he finally lifts his eyes back to hers. "That's all I had left in me anyway." She says with a shrug and a tired sigh as she crawls backwards until she's leaning her back again the wooden headboard.

"I didn't realise that meditation was such hard work." Derek says, his tone genuinely curious as he slowly moves towards her.

"I'm healing - growing new skin." Stiles says, motioning the white bandages wrapped around her mid-section. She then grins up at him as she says; "We can't all heal fast, like you wolves do."

Derek doesn't find that funny, however. He almost fucking lost his mate last night, which is something he's still trying to deal with at the moment. "You're using magic to do that, right?" He arches a brow, now standing at the foot of her bed. "I mean, when most people meditate, they don't automatically grow extra skin."

Stiles knows what he's getting at - he's afraid that if she uses magic again, she'll turn on him, again. "I'm using magic." She nods, because she's never been able to lie to him, for some (stupid) weird reason. "I'm drawing power from the Earth to heal myself."

Derek arches a brow, but this time, he looks more impressed than anything else. "But..." He tries to hide his own smile, but he's only half successful. "We're on the second floor."

Stiles let's out a little laugh at that, only just managing not to wince at the stinging pain of her wounds. They're still pretty bad, but at least they're nowhere near as bad as last night. "Y'know, Deaton says that everything's part of each other, but most of all, everything's part of the Earth." She says, wearing a small, but fond smile. "This bed. This house. The air." She smiles over at the wolf. "Us."

Derek can feel his heart beating wildly and he's so fucking glad that he's the only one with supernatural hearing. Only, he's still slightly afraid that she knows anyway, somehow. She's Stiles, after all. Where there's a way, Stiles will always find it. And it's just another thing he loves so God damn much about her.

"Everything." Stiles mumbles as she tears her eyes from his ever-intense ones.

"Well, I guess that explains why my fingernails get dirty, even when I don't do anything." Derek says, both casually and thoughtfully.

"Plus," Stiles grins up at him again, amusement twinkling in both her amber orbs. "You stuck DID stick your thumbs in a demon's eye-sockets."

Derek smirks slightly and nods. "There is that, too, yeah."

Stiles smiles with amusement as she leans her head back and shuts her eyes with a tired sigh.

"You're exhausted. I should go." Derek frowns as he turns back towards the window, but he barely gets to move a step.

"No." Stiles' eyes snap back open. "Please, stay."

And of course, both the words and the tone of her voice tug horribly at the wolf's heartstrings.

"I... I just," Stiles gulps down the aching lump already forming in the back of her throat. "I missed you so much when I couldn't find you."

"We missed you, too." And again, Derek mentally curses himself for the "we" part. "I missed you." He sees the hope in her eyes and he doesn't know why, but he feel afraid. "I, uh... Scott and the others are working on a way to figure out what happened," And now, he's just rambling on, he knows that, and he doesn't know why he can't just fucking stop. "To you, I mean - why we couldn't see you -"

"I did it." Stiles says simply, though, she looks deeply regretful for it.

That stops Derek rambling, thankfully. He pauses for a few seconds, not really knowing how to react. "You did a spell?"

Stiles nods limply, her eyes cast down to her lap in shame. "I didn't do it on purpose." She says, her voice slightly croaky as she fights back tears. "I just remember thinking that I REALLY wasn't ready to see you guys yet. I... I was afraid that you'd hate me."

Derek ignores the way both his chest and throat seem to close up at her words. How the fuck, he wonders, could she ever think that? "So, you made it happen just by thinking it?" He's just trying to get his mind passed one thing at a time here. He's secretly impressed, but also, kind of terrified.

Stiles nods again, this time, glancing miserably up at him. "I guess I have a while to go yet before I master my stupid powers, huh?"

"It's okay, Stiles. I get it." Derek let's out a tired sigh as he walks around to sit on the bed beside her.

Stiles smiles gratefully at him. "It feels nice to be forgiven." She smiles sadly, then. "Too bad I need so much of it."

"I have a confession to make..." Derek's shoulders sag slightly as he glances guiltily over at her. "I thought it might have been you that killed that kid..."

Stiles only smiles again. "I know." She nods, letting him know that she isn't mad.

"I only thought it for a second..." Derek adds quickly, though, it doesn't make him feel any better.

"It's okay, Derek, really." Stiles tells him, her smile still there for reassurance.

"I just," Derek scowls, angry with himself now. "I wanna be the kind of person who would never think something like that." Especially about their own mate - but that part gets stuck in his throat. "Scott never thought it. Not really. He knew it could've been a possibility, but he never really believed it."

"He did. A little bit." Stiles nods, still smiling. "Heck, I did, a little bit."

But Derek's still scowling.

"And it's okay, too," Stiles adds rather timidly, now. "If you don't think that I can recover from this magic stuff." She smiles faintly, almost miserably. "Honestly, I'm not so sure about that, either."

Derek's scowl only deepens as he watches her take a deep breath before leaning forward.

Stiles takes another deep breath as she crosses her legs. She places her hands on her knees and straightens her back before letting her eyes fall slowly shut.

"I thought you were too tired." It's not a question, more just a reason for Derek to stay when he knows he should probably leave and let her get some rest. Although, he won't stray too far, of course, especially not after last night.

Stiles cracks her eyes open to peek over at him. "It hurts too much not to. Though, it takes so much strength and I don't really have that much right now. But I have to try, at least."

And that just grabs at Derek's heart and makes it hurt all the more. Seriously, why does he say words, ever? He's not good with words and never has been. Laura, she was the one who was good with words. Or his mother. Or even stupid Peter.

"It's okay," Stiles smiles lightly. "You don't have to stay with me. My dad will probably home in a few hours anyway."

'Yeah, 'cause it's such a hardship for me to do that.' Derek thinks with some amusement. "I wanna stay. I wanna help."

Stiles watches silently, but with curiosity as he stands up and slides both his shoes and jacket off. Her heart begins to race a little when he slips back on the bed and mimics her position, sitting cross-legged, right in front of her.

"I think I have enough werewolf strength to share between the both of us." Derek says with a small, but humorous grin.

"Are you sure?" Stiles manages not to stammer through her words when he reaches forward, placing her hands in his.

"Will it help?" Derek arches a brow, and really, he's saying, "just shut up and agree already".

Stiles nods, unable to tear her gaze from his. "A lot."

+

"Uh-huh," Lydia nods eagerly. "And then, what happened?"

"Nothing." Stiles smiles quickly dissolves into a pout. "Well, not nothing. 'Cause, meditation with a werewolf?" She gives a nods of approval. "Really recommend it."

Kira can't help smiling in amusement at that.

"Ugh." Lydia rolls her eyes and huffs. "You're BOTH killing me!"

"Yeah, I don't get it. You should just tell Derek that you wanna be his mate. I mean, you ARE his mate, so I don't get what the problem is here." Malia says, looking about as clueless as she usually does whenever they're having these "girly talks".

"Yes," Lydia nods her agreement. "Thank you, Malia."

"Wha - Wh - What're you talking about!? Aha! Oh, my God! No." Stiles chokes on her own saliva in the most Ladylike way, of course.

And of course, both Lydia and Kira and grinning smugly as Malia looks between all three of them with all the more confusion written her expression.

"Why not?" Malia asks, now, looking rather annoyed.

"Okay, we are not having this conversation again." Stiles scalds her, because she's spent years teaching the werecoyote, so she should know better by now.

"Oh, yes, we are." Lydia grins widely and yanks the back of Stiles' hoodie, pulling her back down to her bed when she tries to get up. "You know what they say; 'if at first you don't succeed, try again.'"

Stiles scoffs. "More like; 'repetition is the definition of insanity.'"

Kira laughs at that. "Oh, come on, Stiles. You can't tell me that you don't want it to happen." She arches a brow. "Have you two ever even kissed?"

"No." Stiles grumbles, folding her arms over her chest - because her stomach is still a little sore, even if she's almost completely healed already.

Kira's brow raises even further. "Seriously!? Oh, my God! Okay, Lydia, I'm with you."

"Thank you!" Lydia exclaims, now looking somewhat frustrated by the matter.

Stiles glares at them both. Stupid friends. She loves them, with everything she has. But just "ugh!" with them sometimes.


	10. On Netflix

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "It was on Netflix, I swear to God." Scott says, his wide eyes now on her.

A few nights later, Stiles is sprawled out across Scott and Kira's apartment, in bed with the Alpha and his mate, both lounging lazily either side of her. It's a Sunday, and Stiles' father still had to work, though, she's long since used to it by now.

However, Stiles wakes up to a text this morning, and it's Scott, telling her that he and Kira are "bored as shit" (his words) and that she should go and "entertain" them. Pff! Like she's their fricking clown or something. But of course, Stiles does as is requested of her and once she's there, she's happy (relieved, also) to see how normal things seem to be, how welcoming of her they are. Though, she didn't expect anything else, really, and she still thinks she deserves much worse. But hey, she's still trying, at least.

+

"University isn't so bad. You'll do fine. My advice to you is to do exactly what everybody else does, all of the time." Kira lists, endlessly lists, like she's been doing for the last twenty minutes.

"Uh-huh..." And Stiles is paying attention, she's just also got one eye on the couple's bedroom television - which is still fucking massive, she thinks, repeatedly and with a little jealously.

"Do what everybody else does," Kira continues, her gaze still glued to the television, as well. "Wear what everybody else wears, say what everybody else says... You catch my drift."

"Uh-huh, got it." Stiles mutters, wincing in disgust when another victim in this actually rather disgusting - trust Scott to pick it, she thinks - movie is literally bitten in the groin by a Nanzi zombie... Yeah, seriously.

"Eww!! Oh, my God! This movie is disgusting! When the hell is it over!?" Kira's face has actually turned a little pale, but she just can't seem to tear her eyes away. It's like a fucking train-wreck. 'Thanks, SCOTT. Ugh! Just for making me watch this, he is SO not getting any sex for at least a week!'

"Ohh! Holy... SHIIIIT!" Scott obviously takes that scene a little more personally than the girls. His eyes widen in utter horror as he grabs at his own privates, his mouth wide open, too.

"Dude," Stiles finally tears her eyes away from the snowy, bloody, zombie, Nanzi chaos and glares over at her so-called best friend. "What the fuck IS this movie!?"

"It was on Netflix, I swear to God." Scott says, his wide eyes now on her.

"And... You still picked it, because...?" Stiles arches a brow, still half glaring at him, somehow.

"It looked good..." Scott replies, shooting her a "what the hell do you want me to say!? I fucked up, okay!? God!" look.

And wow, Stiles thinks - both fondly and with amusement - that Scotty's actually getting almost as awesomely skilled as Sourwolf with those kind of looks. Still, she shakes her head in dismay at the werewolf; her "browolf".

+

[One Week Later...]

"And it's not like I've been gone for that long, and I've already done all of the reading that I missed out on, and I can sign up for -"

"Stiles,"

Stiles quickly clamps her mouth shut, stares curiously back at the professor.

"It's okay." Professor DaCosta says, wearing a reassuring smile. "We'll get you all caught up with your work in no time."

Stiles smiles broadly, hope lighting up her amber orbs. "Really?"

"Well, what am I supposed to say? That I don't want my best student back in my class?" Professor DaCosta chuckles with a light shake of his head. "Of course, I noticed that little drop-off in your grades at mid-term last year, and I WAS concerned. But then," He grins widely, proudly even. "You managed to turn it around and ace every single one of your finals." He chuckles again. "Just like magic or something."

"Ha, yeah..." Stiles laughs nervously along with him - because of course it was fricking magic, but he doesn't need to know that. She feels bad for cheating, of course she does, she's never cheated at anything in her life, because she doesn't see any satisfaction from doing so.

"Look," Professor DaCosta says. "Come see me tomorrow, during office hours, and we'll see what we can do about getting you up to date. Sound good to you?"

"Yes. Oh, my God. Thank you SO much." Stiles smiles brightly, gratefully at the warm and friendly, middle-aged, African-American man.

"No problem. I'll see you then." Professor DaCosta sends her one last smile and a curt nod before walking back towards the university's building.

Stiles turns around and makes her way across the campus, back towards the parking lot. However, she stops in the middle of the pathway when she sees a certain werewolf walking towards her. "Hey, Sourwolf." She shoots him her usual smile, her expression then quickly morphing into confusion. "What're you doing here?"

"Scott didn't tell you?" Derek's both surprised and a little annoyed about that. He understands that the Alpha wants to protect her from everything in sight, because he feels the same way, but it's just not possible. "There's a spider demon on the loose."

"I'm sorry - a, what?" Stiles blinks rapidly as she tries to process what she's being told.

"Why is that so surprising after everything you've already seen?" Derek asks, actually looking slightly amused.

"Okay," Stiles glares at him, pathetically. "I guess it isn't, really..."

Derek smile widens slightly before he's being all serious again and getting straight down to business. Because yeah, that's just "Classic Sourwolf". "Scott and I split up an hour ago and so far, I've tracked it here."

Stiles nods in acknowledgement as she glances around the busy campus. "Has it hurt anybody? Killed anybody?"

Derek nods. "It's already killed three people, that we know of. All three of the victims were fairly young, so we think that this thing likes, uh, fresh meat."

"Well, that's just peachy." Stiles huffs. "I haven't even started classes yet, and already, there's frigging eight-legged demons running around campus, eating the students."

Derek smiles at that, because he can't help himself, because he always seems to smile when he's around Stiles, no matter what. "So, that's what you're doing here." He notes with a nod. His smile widens a little, too, because he can't help feeling proud of her, even if he'll never have the guts to tell her so. But it's the thought that counts... Right?

"Yeah." Stiles' expression, too, brightens as she remembers what she was doing her in the first place. "I'm starting back up again. I thought it was best to carry on where I left on, just try and move on and get on with my life, y'know?"

Derek nods and smiles. "That's good."

Stiles' smile widens. "Yeah, I even got to talk with some of my classmates from last year, and I can't believe how nice everybody's being to me." She chuckles nervously. "I was kinda worried about it all, to be honest."

Derek nods again. "That's understandable. You just need to give it time."

"Right." Stiles nods again, too, her smile even brightening a little more. "I already have all my books and homework," She grins as she motion to the heavy rucksack slung over her right shoulder. "And they even said they'd give me periodic surprise quizzes, just to make up for the ones I missed, and -" She frowns, curious and slightly suspicious. "What're you smiling for?"

Derek chuckles. "It's just that," He grins, clearly very amused. "You're literally the only person that I've ever known who gets excited about school." He then frowns slightly. "Well, besides Lydia... But she's just a freak of ALL kinds of nature."

Stiles grins. "I'm gonna tell her you said that."

Derek narrows his eyes back at her, but he still can't help smirking slightly.

+

Twenty minutes later, Stiles tags along with Derek in search of this spider demon. The two of them search the entire campus as discreetly as possible and thankfully, nobody seems to even look their way. They then, make their way to the last place left unsearched; the Gamma Kappa Tau house.

Stiles, as curious as ever, opens the front door first. However, Derek, as annoying as ever, gently pushes her behind him and enters the house first instead.

Stiles narrows her eyes at the back of his head before rolling them and following him into the building. She closes the door quietly behind her and turns around to see that the house is completely empty. Although, it's the blood stains that are splattered all over the walls and furniture that grab her initial attention. At least now she knows why the werewolf noted the strong smell of blood, yards before they'd even walked up to the house.

Derek sees the huge pools of blood on the floor, human blood, splattered all up the walls and smeared across every piece of furniture in sight. He keeps his senses keen for danger, all, but one, his hearing, which he keeps tabs of Stiles' pulse with, because it's just become a habit now.

As the werewolf does his own detective work, Stiles slowly walks further into the large room to do her own investigating. She sees everything the werewolf sees; the blood mostly and the wrecked - well, everything. She freezes suddenly, though, when she hears a sort of high-pitched whimpering noise.

Derek, of course, hears it, too. He glances towards Stiles and is more than annoyed to see her rushing towards the sound.

Stiles hurries into the next room, the sound becoming clearer the closer she gets. Her eyes dart around, quickly landing on the closed closet door.

Derek is behind her and he reaches out to grab her, but he misses by a hair.

Stiles lurches forward, ignoring the wolf behind her and pulls open the closet door. Her eyes widen when they land on a girl around her age - she's sitting on the floor, her knees hugged tightly to her chest as she rocks and cries to herself.

Derek sighs in relief, both at the lack of danger and the fact that the blood that the girl is completely covered in isn't her own. In fact, apart from any emotional trauma, she seems completely fine. He thinks that is weird, but not enough for him to think twice about. At least, not yet.

"I-I take it back. I take it back. I take it back." The girl chants to herself, her voice barely above a trembling whisper.

"Hey," Stiles voice is soft as she slowly kneels down in front of the girl. She rakes her eyes quickly over the girl, relieved to see she's not actually hurt. "Hey, it's okay. You're okay."

"I take i-it b-back." The girl only seems to cry harder, her entire body shaking with fear at this point.

"What do you take back?" Stiles asks softly, because duh, she's Stiles and she's curious. But she's not an animal, she has finesse, she has a heart. Well, when she ISN'T tear other people's out, that is...

"T-there was supposed to be party... Everybody on campus was supposed to be there..." The girl whispers with tears still rolling free down her flushed and bloody cheeks. "B-but it was a game... It, it was just me... And THEM... He broke up with me in front his friends... It was just a game... It was ALL just a-a g-game..."

Stiles' heart actually aches for this girl, but there's a familiar fire in her belly, her furious one that burns for people like whoever the fuck this douchebag was and if she could just get her hands on the dirt son of a - Stiles quickly breaks away from those unwanted thoughts and feelings instantly upon feeling them. Instead, she ignores it, like her father's taught her so well when things get too tough (unintentionally, but still, it CAN be quite useful) and focusses on the poor girl.

Derek sighs, shaking his head lightly to himself. He feels sorry for this girl, also. And of course, he knows what it feels like when you're fucked over by someone that you think you love.

"It's okay. You're okay now." Stiles tries to comfort the girl with a small, but reassuring smile.

The girl only continues with her heartbroken rant, now seeming to be talking to herself. "They laughed and they laughed and I cried and... They laughed..." She cries harder. "And I just did it once, I swear..."

"What did you do?" Derek's now both curious and a little concerned as he moves a little closer to both girls. Although, mostly for Stiles' safety. Who knows what this girl could be really capable of?

"I just," The girl trembles again. "I just yelled it once, I swear..."

"What'd you mean?" Stiles is more curious now than anything else.

"I just yelled at him... At all of them... Just once; "I wish you could all feel what it's like to have your heart ripped out..." Just once, I swear..." She sobs harder, again. "And then, it came..."

"What came?" Derek asks, his voice slightly stern as he moves a little closer to them. He knows the answer already, but he just needs to make sure.

The girl glances over at him, her eyes still wide with fear, and tears. "A spider..."

"Okay," Stiles nods as she rises back up onto her feet. "We're leaving, right now." She glances back down to the girl. "Come on. It's not safe here."

However, the girl is simply too frightened to move as she shrinks back into herself.

"Where did it go?" Derek asks the girl.

"Oh, why did you ask that?" Stiles groans, glancing over the werewolf's shoulder.

Derek huffs, glaring in annoyance. "It's behind me right now, isn't it?" Just his luck. And again -

"Why did you ask THAT!?" Stiles glares at him, her eyes then widening. "Yes!!"

The girls shrieks at the sight of the demon crawling slowly around the ceiling, as if circling them.

Derek swirls around then, and just in time to see the spider demon lunging straight towards him.

"Derek!!" Stiles' eyes widen as she steps forward without thinking, grabs the back of his leather jacket and yanks him behind her.

Derek's eyes widen, too, then. And he's about to do the same to her by pulling her out of the way, however, he doesn't need to. Because yeah, he forgets sometimes. He can't help it, he just wants to protect her.

Stiles lifts her right hand and with it, she raises an invisible barrier around the three of them. She uses just enough energy to keep them protected, but she can already feel it bubbling up, trying to change her.

Derek would stop her, he wants to, and for many reasons. But she's protecting them, and she doesn't seem to be struggling in doing just that.

The girl is only more freaked out by what she's seeing right now and she can't help sobbing even louder as she crawls back, as far away from it all as possible.

"Oh, for fuck sake!" At that moment, something inside of Stiles snaps. She feels the anger reach boiling point as she turns her head to face the girl. Her eyes are completely black, a vicious sneer upon her face. "Shut your fucking whimpering whore mouth before I shut it for you!!"

Derek's eyes widen in utter horror as the girl does as she's told, her own eyes wide with shock (and more fear, of course).

Stiles' own eyes then fade back to their normal ambers and widen in complete and utter shock. Her hand is still raised in mid-air as she tears her eyes away from the girl and back onto the demon.

The demon is continuing to barge ferociously against the magical barrier, and Derek is, again, about to step forward and stop her, but again, he's... Interrupted.

Stiles stares blankly at the demon before muttering the one word that seals it's fate, instantly. "Separate."

Derek's eyes widen, as do the girl's, but Stiles simply watches vacantly as the spider's limbs, one by one, are forcefully (magically) and painfully pulled apart, until there is nothing, but a pile of ash at her feet.

Stiles stares down at the pile of dust as she slowly lowers her hand back to her side. She then, slowly turns to face both the werewolf and the poor girl - the girl that she had fantasised about tearing slowly, painfully and messily apart, not, but five seconds ago.

Derek's heart aches now as he sees the tears shining, her somewhat lifeless expression. And this time, he does reach out to her, but again, it's already too late.

Stiles glances to the girl before turning her gaze back to the wolf's, her chest hurting immensely as she sees a the equivalent look to what she's feeling right now. "I'm sorry..." She whispers, and then, she's gone, literally within the blink of the wolf's eye.


	11. Real Trouble

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Daddy's home." Stiles' grin widens, she seems to think this is all a game, a hilarious game. And it is to her, she thinks as she gives a little chuckle for emphasis. "I'm in REAL trouble NOW."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter is the last of this story.  
> Sad face.
> 
> However, there IS a little Sterek fluff and steam coming right up.  
> Sixty-four percent aroused face.
> 
> Thank you to all readers!

[11 Months Ago...]

"...Deaton?" Scott looks so fucking relieved as his eyes land on the older man. His mouth is dripping with the blood that he coughed up as he simply stood down and let his best friend beat the shit out of him.

Kira is stood beside the Alpha, the couple trying to support the other from falling into an exhausted, bloody and bruised heap.

"Thank God..." Lydia whispers, her breathing hard and her limbs aching from when Stiles had tossed her carelessly aside, like a fricking rag-doll.

Malia quickly helps the redhead up onto her feet, even if she's aching just as much as the others are. Both on the inside and out.

Derek, too, is covered in his own blood and barely able to stand by this point. His eyes, though, only briefly leaves Stiles to glance over at the man who had loved his mother with his entire being. And he, too, is so relieved that he's finally come to help, because he's their last fucking hope to get her back.

"Uh-oh..." From her place on the floor - in the middle of all of the rubble and chaos of the McCall household (which she caused, of course) - Stiles smiles menacingly as she slowly lifts her gaze to the vet.

Deaton ignores Scott, ignores Derek and Lydia and Kira and Malia, he ignores everything around him. Everything, except for Stiles.

"Daddy's home." Stiles' grin widens, she seems to think this is all a game, a hilarious game. And it is to her, she thinks as she gives a little chuckle for emphasis. "I'm in REAL trouble NOW."

"You have no idea." Deaton finally speaks, his voice as calm as his expression, as always, of course. He watches as she slowly sits up, wipes the small trickle of blood from under her nose with the back of her black and veiny hands, looks at the blood in annoyance and then wipes again. Her hair is also still jet black and her face is still covered with the same dark veins, although, her eyes are no longer black, they are normal, for the moment, he notes. Because he's ready for this, even if he knows the consequences. But someone has to do it.

Stiles sniffs loudly, her eyes narrowing slightly up at the vet. She then, slowly goes to stand, but is quickly interrupted.

"'Stay down'." Deaton says, his voice a little sterner. And with a simple wave of his right hand, she goes tumbling down onto her backside again.

Stiles hisses, then glares up at him with a quiet, but clearly frustrated growl escaping passed her lips.

"Stiles," Deaton's voice is a little softer, but his expression is still stern. "You have to stop what you're doing -"

"Uh, no," Stiles scoffs loudly. "I can't do that."

"- Before it's too late."

"Please," Stiles scoffs bitterly this time. "It's already too late."

Deaton gives her a hard look. "I know you don't believe that."

Stiles shoots him a withering look. "I'm not finished yet." She says through gritted teeth before quickly rising to her feet, though, she's a little shaky about it.

"Neither I am. 'Stay down'." Deaton replies, then, waving his hand once again.

With a grunt, again, Stiles instantly falls back onto her backside and again, she sends him another glare.

"How are you doing this?" Scott asks, his eyes wide with shock and somewhat awe. Sure, he knows the man has many secrets, still, after all these years of knowing him now, but still - 'Holy shit, dude...'

However, Deaton ignores him, his full focus still on Stiles. He needs his full concentration and energy saved up in order for him to stop her, it's the only way now, it's all they have left.

Stiles laughs, she's finally sussed him out. "That's BORROWED power. No WAY it's gonna be strong enough to -"

"I'm here to help you, Stiles." Deaton tells her, his voice a lot softer and caring than before. Huh, he looks as though he may actually give a crap here.

However, Stiles merely rolls her eyes. "Thanks, but I think I can end the world ALL by myself." She states sarcastically. "But hey!" She grins. "If you'd like to watch - I mean, it's what you're REALLY good at, right? Watching. Butting in on things that don't concern you." She glares then, almost sneering as she continues. "You call yourself an emissary; a healer... But you're no better than the rest of us. You're just a useless sack of flesh, too, blundering through life, fighting your wars, even though you're terrible at it. Pathetic."

"YOU concern me, Stiles." Deaton tells her, his exterior completely calm as he ignores her last comment. He knows what she's doing, that's she's only trying to get under his skin, get inside his mind. And he's not going to let her in and let her beat him. She may be more powerful than he, but he is more experienced, by tenfold. And, unlike Stiles, he is also controlled, fully.

"I don't need your concern. I'm FINE." Stiles chides with another roll of her eyes.

"ARE you fine, Stiles?" Deaton asks, his tone almost challenging. "Because you're already looking pretty worn out to me..."

Stiles puffs out a chuckle at that, but she's not amused in the slightly anymore. In fact, she's beginning to get really fucking pissed off. Who the fuck does he even think he is!?

Deaton sighs. "I understand that what happened your cousin was -"

"DON'T!! J-just - just don't!" Stiles snaps, her eyes flashing black for a split second as she glares up at him again. "You weren't there! NONE of you were there when I needed you! You didn't see it! I watched that bastard and his brother gut her right in front of me!"

Derek's chest is aching immensely as he watches the bastard magic tear his mate apart from the inside out. And it all started with that fucking bastard Nugitsune...

Deaton let's her vent it out before continuing as if he hadn't even been interrupted. "Stiles, if you stay on this path any longer, you WILL wind up dead."

Stiles merely scoffs at his words. Though, she's still glaring up at him, of course.

"Stiles, PLEASE listen to him." Scott sounds pleading now, more than anything as he takes a timid step towards her. "I DON'T wanna fight you anymore." Mainly because she epically wiped the floor with him without even breaking a sweat - which his Alpha werewolf is still kind of wounded about - but obviously also, because he loves her so fucking much that he can't bare to ever hurt her. Even if he has to.

Stiles glances to the Alpha and nods in agreement. "I don't wanna fight you anymore, either." She then glances back to the vet and smirks mischievously. "I wanna fight HIM."

Deaton shoots her another hard look and raises his hand to ground her once again. "'Stay down'."

However, this time, Stiles is ready for him, because she didn't get this far for nothing, she's a fast learner. "'NO'." She gives a small wave of her own hand as she rises to her feet, shaking the force off without even any difficulty whatsoever.

Deaton's eyes widen in alarm, though, only very slightly. He still holds his ground, however, because he's not afraid, just cautious.

Malia drags Lydia to the other side of the wrecked living room, Kira following after them and standing protectively in front of them both.

Meanwhile, Scott and Derek, instinctively, move a little closer to the vet, just in case, but for the most part, they hang back for the moment, just to see the scene play out.

Stiles smiles fondly at the wolves, though, her eyes are glued to the vet. "Remember that little argument we had a few months ago, right before you left for England?" Her voice is slightly humour-filled and slightly bitter, still, because she knows damn well that he remembers every fucking word he said that night. "Y'know," She chuckles, that sounding bitter, too. "When you were STILL under the impression that you were relevant in our lives?"

Again, Deaton ignores her words, but as do the wolves, he watches her every move as she slowly begins to close the space between them.

"You called me a rank, arrogant amateur." Stiles is now glaring at the vet as she stands about a foot and a half away from him.

Deaton is still calm as ever, but the wolves eyes widen slightly with panic as her eyes revert back to their raven-black orbs of nothingness.

"Well, buckle up, ALAN," Stiles' resonant voice is literally, demonically (disturbingly) low as her lips slowly curl into a sinister smile. "'Cause I've just turned pro..."

The second the words leave her mouth, the two wolves are thrown in opposite directions by an invisible force. It's powerful enough to knock them both simultaneously unconscious as they smack into opposite walls and land on separate piles of rubble. And at the same time, Deaton is thrown up into the air until he hits the ceiling, hard.

Malia let's out a growl at seeing both her cousin and her Alpha hurt. She moves forward, managing to tear her arm out of Kira's protesting grasp. She only stops, frozen in fright when Stiles turns her blackened gaze onto her. And it's the fact that she loves Stiles too much to hurt her - even after everything she's done - that also leaves her slightly hesitant, that makes her hold back, even when she doesn't want to anymore.

"I don't wanna hurt you, Malia, but that doesn't mean I won't." Stiles warns with a pointed glare.

Malia glares defiantly back at her, but doesn't move a muscle.

At this point, Scott wakes up first, groaning as Kira rushes over to him. Meanwhile, both Malia and Lydia hurry over to Derek as he groggily begins to come around, too.

Stiles smirks smugly as she turns her gaze up to the ceiling, where the vet is still pinned. "'Asmodea, bring forth -'"

However, Deaton isn't done, he's far from it. She wants to fight him? Well, then, that's completely fine by him. He's not going down with a fight, either. But he's still sticking (strictly) to the plan, because he knows it will work. Even if he may have to sacrifice himself for it... "'Break!'" The simple word he shouts out is enough to break the force she has over him and he's able to slowly lower himself gracefully back onto his feet.

Stiles stumbles back a little bit, but she's mostly surprised, and annoyed. "Huh." She glares over at him again. "That was cute."

Derek is instantly reminded of those very same words that he uttered to Scott in their first little Beta-to-Beta fight upon first meeting. And the werewolf really would smile, if it weren't for how fucked things were right now.

+

It's been hours now since Stiles took off, leaving without a second glance towards her friends. Though, not before she had beaten each and everyone of them to another bloody pulp, including poor Deaton, finally.

But now, as Deaton's laying half head on the thawed McCall couch with Melissa trying to tend to his wound, he's still conscious enough to talk.

"What're you talking about!? What did she do to you!?" Scott's eyes are wide in fear, fear of losing this man. This man who's grown rather important to him, almost father-like. If it weren't for Stiles' father, of course, who's always been there for him, ever since he can remember.

The others, too, remember as Stiles literally sinks her hand into his chest like a hot knife in butter, their eyes widening in fright and horror as Deaton screams out in pain.

"He let her steal his power." Derek speaks for the man, because he's already figured it out. He just hopes it works.

Deaton smiles, because while he knows the werewolf's figuring it out, he hasn't yet seen the bigger picture. Deaton's done his part, it's now Derek's turn. 

"I'm sorry - what!? W-why the fuck would you do that!? She's gonna fucking destroy the world now!!" Scott snaps, now trying to find it in his heart to glare at the vet, though, he knows it's a pathetic attempt.

Deaton simply ignores the Alpha, knowing that he doesn't understand, not yet. He glances back to Derek and smiles again. "You're the only one that can stop her, now."

As predicted, Derek frowns, looking as confused as the others.


	12. Master Plan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stiles scoffs loudly after the realisation sets in. "Is this seriously your master plan?" She asks sarcastically, looking sorely unimpressed. "You're going to stop me by proclaiming your undying love for me?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New developement - I've decided to stretch the last chapter into two, since it's so frigging long.
> 
> Let me know your thoughts? :)

[Present...]

Stiles is in her apartment, in her bathroom, on the floor, curled up in and crying pathetically to herself as the flashbacks and guilt plague her every thought and emotion.

+

[Past...]

Scott pulls out his ringing phone as Derek drives at top speed through the (thankfully for the night) vacant streets of Beacon Hills. He checks the caller's I.D, his heart racing in dread when he does. "Mom? What's wrong? Is it Deaton? Is he okay? Is it Stiles? Did she come ba -"

"Scott!" Melissa finally snaps with an irritated huff.

"Sorry." Scott purses his lips, while trying to calm himself the fuck down for at least a minute. "Go ahead."

"Deaton's okay... For now. I mean, he's hurt pretty bad." Melissa's voice is rather shaky and clearly filled with concern.

"What about John? How's he doing?" Scott asks, his own voice cracking a little. He still can't believe Stiles would hurt her own father, but he knows he shouldn't be surprised, really. She's hurt them all. And she's still hurting them now by being so - NOT Stiles.

Derek shoots the young Alpha a wary side glance, because of course, he's listening to Melissa's every word, too.

Melissa let's out a tired sigh. "He had a few broken ribs and a heavy concussion, but he'll be fine in a few weeks."

"Has he woken up yet?" Derek asks, shooting a pointed look to the other wolf.

Scott nods before asking his mother the same question.

"Yeah." Melissa chuckles softly. "He's REALLY not happy about leaving all the work to you wolf boys, but he knows you won't let him down." She sighs heavily. "Anyway, I called, 'cause Deaton said he can hear Stiles thoughts -" Now, there's something she never thought she'd say. Then again, she's actually grown used to all of this chaos by now. "Here, I'm gonna hand Lydia over, she knows what she's talking about, at least."

There's a shuffling noise before Lydia's voice then reaches the wolves ears. "Well, I'm no expert..." She chuckles, but there's no humour in it whatsoever.

"Hey!" Scott all, but shrieks when the older wolf quickly snatches the phone from him. "Jerk." He mutters under his breath, now wearing a glare.

"Lydia," Derek ignores the Alpha and holds the phone up to his, his other hand effortlessly navigating his - well, Laura's Camaro. "What's going on?" He asks, his voice is calm, but stern, as if to say; "tell me everything, right this second."

"Things just got a whole lot worse, Derek." Lydia tells him gravely. "And not just for us, but for the entire world."

"How much worse exactly?" Derek asks lowly as Scott listens keenly to the redhead's words.

"Um... A-apocalypse worse." Lydia confirms. "Stiles is literally gonna destroy the world."

Scott's eyes widen in horror as Derek's heart races. "She can actually do that?" He doesn't know why he's more surprised and rather (so NOT the time to be) impressed, instead of terrified, like he probably should be.

"She can. And she will." Lydia confirms again, sounding more fearful than ever. "She's going to a big, old Satanic temple, out on Kingman's Bluff."

"Kingman's Bluff?" Derek frowns, completely confused, because he knows this town like the back of his hand. "There's no temple on Kingman's Bluff."

"No." Lydia's voice is low and dread-filled. "But there will be..."

+

Stiles is stood at Kingman's Bluff, the second main lookout point of Beacon Hills, on the edge of a small cliff top. She stands back, her arms held out before her as she watches the huge ash-coloured steeple slowly rising out of the ground.

It continues to push itself out of the ground as Stiles chants quietly to herself, her eyes completely black again.

It rises, with various stone gargoyles and other carvings that decorate the surface and there is a large carving at the top of it - a snake-haired woman with her mouth wide open and a long snake-like tongue sticking out, as well as another, larger snake, rapped around her entire body. And on top of that, at the very top of the steeple, there is a pentacle, topped with a trident.

Stiles continues to chant lowly, her hands held out towards the steeple as it protrudes from the earth at a slightly crooked angle.

'Stiles... Genim... Please... Stop...'

Stiles grits her teeth in annoyance when she hears Deaton's voice wavering in her mind. "It's too late," She sighs sadly as she says the words out loud to herself - but she knows he can still hear her, loud and clear. "I can't take it all anymore... I'm sorry, I really am."

+

"Proserpexa?" Scott's baffled. "Who the fuck is that!?"

Lydia doesn't hear him, but she starts explaining anyway before Derek needs to even ask. "She's WAY up in the hierarchy of she-demons. Her followers intended to use her effigy to destroy the world. They all died, though, when the temple was swallowed up in the huge earthquake of 1932."

"So now, eight decades later, and Stiles is gonna make their dreams come true." Scott scoffs bitterly, shaking his head with a disbelieving look on his face.

Lydia continues telling Derek everything that Deaton has just told her. "She's gonna drain the planet's life force and funnel its energy through Proserpexa's effigy and burn the entire Earth to a fricking cinder."

"Not if I can help it." Derek says defiantly.

Lydia scoffs lightly. "You can't."

"What're you talking about?" Derek frowns, confused again. "Deaton's the one who said I had to stop her." He doesn't know how he's going to do that exactly. Yet.

"Something else that he said..." Lydia's voice is now slightly hesitant. "He said that no magic or supernatural force is enough to stop her now."

"What the fuck does THAT mean!?" Scott asks, becoming more frustrated by the minute.

Lydia hear's the Alpha, and again, she's slightly hesitant to reply. "I... I don't know, exactly... H-he just said that even the True Alpha can't stop her, a-and then, he said a whole bunch of other stuff, which I couldn't really make sense of..."

"Lydia," Derek's voice is low and concerned. "Is Deaton really gonna be okay?"

"I... I don't know. I don't think he has a lot of time left..." Lydia sniffs quietly and immediately, the wolves know that she's been crying, again. "I should really get back to him, though."

When the line goes dead, Derek growls in annoyance as he tosses the phone back to the other wolf and steps even harder down on the acceleration pedal.

+

Stiles hasn't moved from her spot as she gazes up at the steeple. "'Proserpexa,'" She finally moves, taking only a single step towards the building. "'Let the cleansing fires from the depths burn away the suffering souls and bring forth sweet death...'" She raises her hands again, but this time, she's interrupted, much to her irritation, by Scott.

"Hey, black-eyed girl." He smiles mischievously. "Whatcha doin'?"

"Get the fuck outta here, Scott!" Stiles barks through gritted teeth. She notices Derek slowly and warily making his way towards them, too, but chooses to ignore him.

"Ha, no." Scott shoots her a pointed look. "You're not the only one with superpowers."

Stiles scoffs. "We played this game already, and I won, remember?"

"Stiles!" Scott snaps, looking more annoyed and frustrated than angry. "Just stop this crazy shit!"

"I can't." Stiles says simply before raising her hand to his forehead. "'Sleep'." By her command, the Alpha's eyes rolls slowly to the back of his head before he slowly sinks to the ground at her feet.

Derek's eyes widen slightly as he rushes over to the younger wolf.

"Don't worry, he's just resting." Stiles explains with a vacant tone. "We'll all be able rest, soon enough." She smiles down at the wolf, a disturbingly peaceful smile. "It's okay, Derek. I'm gonna end all of our suffering."

"Stiles," Derek slowly rises to his feet and stands in front of her. "Please -"

Stiles knows what he's going to say and she doesn't want to hear it, because she heard it before, many, many times. She lifts her hands, shoving them into his chest with enough for to send him flying back a few meters.

Derek growls out in frustration before pulling himself back up onto his feet. He knows she stubborn, but so is he. It's just another reason why he loves her.

Stiles' jaw tightens in annoyance before she darts forward and grabs him by the throat. She grips his flesh tightly, gritting her teeth as she lands a couple of hard punches to his annoying pretty face. She puts all of her strength into her hits, but it doesn't seem to faze him, for some (again, annoying) reason.

Derek quickly shakes of the painful throbbing sensation in his entire face now as he also manages to grabs her whole fist in his hand when she goes to punch him again. He grabs the hand clasped around his throat and squeezes her wrist before he can even think about hesitating.

Stiles shrieks and instantly shoves him violently away from her altogether as craddles her broken wrist.

Derek somehow continues to ignore the aching of his heart. He REALLY didn't want to do that.

"You can't stop this, Derek." Stiles sneers, glaring defiantly at the wolf.

Derek sighs and nods. "Yeah, I know that. But where else am I supposed to go? If you wanna end the world, well, then, you should start with me, 'cause I've earned it, believe me."

Stiles black orbs narrowing slightly at him. "W-what is this!?" She snaps, her glare darkening.

"If the world is gonna end, where else would I wanna be?" Derek shoots her a meaningful look, hoping that she understands - because he totally sucks ass with words, okay!?

Stiles scoffs loudly after the realisation sets in. "Is this seriously your master plan?" She asks sarcastically, looking sorely unimpressed. "You're going to stop me by proclaiming your undying love for me?"

"Well, I WAS gonna rip your throat out... With me teeth." Derek grins lightly.

Stiles shakes her head, still looking beyond pissed off. "Such a sour wolf. Still making petty threat and jokes."

"I'm not joking NOW." Derek says, his voice now as serious as his expression. "Stiles, I know that you're in pain and I know you're about to do something really, REALLY stupid here," He motions towards the ancient steeple. "But you're STILL Stiles... You're still Genim."

Stiles' expression only hardens, then. "Don't," She grits out as she quickly extends her broke wrist out, cracking it (magically, of course) back into perfectly working order.

Derek's eyes widen slightly, but he makes no other movement. "I'm not gonna give up you, Genim. I'll never give up on you."

"Don't fucking call me that!" Stiles snaps, and instead of lunging for the wolf, this time, she raises both her hands and sends a large jolt of electricity at him.

Derek goes sailing a few meters back again, but he's not in as much pain as he thought he would be. It's then that he realises it, that's he's beginning to get under her skin, inside of her mind.

+

Deaton cracks his eyes open the moment he feels it. He can feel Stiles again, the real Stiles. "There..."

All the women - Melissa, Lydia, Kira and Malia all quickly gather around the poor, severely wounded man.

"What?" Lydia asks, both concerned and concern flitting across her face.

"She's coming back to us..." Deaton actually manages a small smile. "It's not over yet..."

The women all glance warily at one another, simply not knowing how to feel.

+

Stiles let's out an annoyed growl when he gets up again. "You think I won't kill you!? Huh!? I'll burn you alive, just like Kate burned your entire family!"

Derek is hurt by her words, of course he is, but he knows what she's trying to do. "It won't matter." He says, looking right into the darkness of her eyes. "I'll still love you."

"Shut up." Stiles let's out another annoyed growl, louder this time as she raises a hand and slashes through the air.

At the same time, Derek stumbles back slightly from the force. He lifts a hand to his cheek, feeling the four bloody, claw marks. He glances back to her, sees her panting lightly and looking rather nervous now. He then, moves slowly closer to her, his eyes on hers. "I love you, Genim."

Stiles' glare only darkens as she makes another slashing gesture.

This time, Derek doubles over as he feels it across his lower abdomen. He sinks to his knees, his shirt now ripped with another four (much bigger) bloody, claw marks. "I..." He pants heavily, his eyes raising back to hers. "...Love y -"

"Shut the fuck up!!" Stiles screams at the top of her lungs. She pushes at the air this time, the force making the wolf only stumble back a few steps. She grits her teeth in utter fury as he then, keeps approaching her.

"I love you." Derek says it again as he walks right up to her, and this time, he's ready for her.

Stiles only glares up at him. "Stop -"

Derek cuts her off by grabbing her wrist when she goes to punch him again. "I love you."

"Fuck you!!" Stiles let's out a frustrated yell as she yanks her wrist from his grasp and proceeds to hit him repeatedly in the chest with her fists.

Derek simply stands there and takes it, because he can already feel her power draining now, can already feel her strength to the normal human Stiles strength that it should be. He knows she strong, but she's still human, and he's defiant to lose her, to anyone or anything.

"I hate you!" Stiles half screams, half cries as she continues her assault on the werewolf.

Derek sighs, finally raising his arms around her and pulling her towards him. "I love you, Stiles." His chest aches so much that he can only manage to whisper now, as his throat seems closed off, too.

"S-stop..." Stiles stammers through gritted teeth and a defiant look still upon her face. "Stop saying that..."

Derek only holds her tighter when she tries to shove him away again and simply let's her cry, let's her get everything all out in the open, once and for fucking all. "I love you, Stiles... I love you..."


	13. Never Hurt You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "No." Derek's voice is firmer, his expression growing more defiant. "I-I know I've been an asshole to you in the past, but I would never - could NEVER hurt you, Stiles."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I stretched it by another chapter, 'cause I still underestimated how fricking long it was...
> 
> Enjoy?

[Past...]

As he's been doing since they got into his - well, Laura's - Camaro, Derek continues to glance briefly (but with obvious concern) every now and then, over at Stiles, who is deathly still and unnervingly silent since she cried and screamed herself out of energy. Of course, he does also glance back to the check on the Alpha, who is shrewn across the back-seat, still deep in his magical slumber.

Stiles sits in the passenger's seat, her entire body aching, limb to limb. Her throat hurts, too, from all of the screaming, of course, but at least she feels calm. Well, a lot more calm than she has done in so long, she can't even remember the last time. She glances every now and then, though, towards the passenger's wing-mirror, just to make sure that her hair is still its natural brown colour, that her eyes are still their normal ambers and that there are no black veins of dark magic scribbled across her face. She knows she feels it, the darkness, if it decided to come back again, but she still can't help checking every few minutes.

After a few more minutes, Derek can no longer bare the horrid silence between them and breaks it. "So..." He begins, his voice slightly wary. "Deaton wants me to take you to him... Now..." He knows he should make it sound like an order, but he just doesn't have the heart, neither the soul to demand anything of her right now.

Stiles doesn't move a muscle, she simply whispers; "That's fine."

Derek feels like an idiot when he simply nods in acknowledgement to her reply, but he doesn't have a clue of how to act or what the hell to say to her right now. She looks so damaged, so broken, much like himself, once, and he has to literally restrain himself from just pulling the car up and pulling her close to him and never letting her go ever a-fucking-gain.

Stiles is grateful for the wolf's attempt at a conversation, in fact, more than he'll ever know. It distracts her from the memories of all of the awful and wicked things she has done. Again. Except, this time, she has no one else to blame. No nugitsune, just herself.

'"...You're attacking your friends now, too?" Malia asks incredulously, also looking very hurt.

"Only the ones that get in my way." Stiles says, with no emotion in her voice whatsoever.

Lydia's eyes widen in horror upon hearing that.

"Anyway," Stiles shrugs. "I wasn't gonna hurt her..." She smiles wickedly over at the redhead. "I would have made it quick..."'

'"...Stiles," Derek stares pleadingly back at her. "This is you. This isn't the Stiles that I know."

"The Stiles you know?" Stiles scoffs, clearly amused by the wolf's pathetic attempt. "Lemme tell you a little something about "the Stiles you know", shall I?" She almost sneers her words out, clearly bitter - with herself mostly, though, she could never admit to that. "She's weak."

"No," Derek glares defiantly back at her, but again, she cuts him off.

"Yes." Stiles spits the word out through gritted teeth as she glares back at him. "Stiles is weak, and pathetic, and annoying. And she REALLY does talk too much, doesn't she? I mean, my God!" She exclaims with a taunting laugh. "Come now, Derek," She smirks at the wolf. "Please don't try to tell me that you've never wanted to rip her throat out with your teeth just to shut her the fuck up."

"No." Derek's voice is firmer, his expression growing more defiant. "I-I know I've been an asshole to you in the past, but I would never - could NEVER hurt you, Stiles."

Stiles sees his expression soften as he says those words and it tugs at her heart strings, but she doesn't allow the feeling to go any further than that. Instead, her own expression hardens into a glare as she scoffs again. "Well, I COULD hurt YOU. And I WILL..."'

Stiles screws her eyes shut, trying to ignore the flashbacks.

'"...Stiles! You just don't get it, do you?" Scott snaps, glaring at her. "You KILLED a man! Y-you killed TWO men!"

Stiles merely scoffs and rolls her eyes. "No, YOU "just don't get it", Scotty." She grins happily (blindly). "I don't care..."'

Stiles takes slow and deep breaths as another load of flashbacks begin to stream relentlessly through her battered mind.

'"...Oh, Stiles," Peter shakes his head in dismay as he stares at her from behind his prison of glass. "You can't even imagine the true price for evil."

Stiles stares vacantly back at him through her blackened orbs. "YOU manage it."

"Some people are just born into it." Peter explains with a simple shrug before smiles rather sympathetically at her. "But YOU don't have to disappear into the darkness."

Stiles scoffs lightly. "I already have." She says before turning on her heel.

"Hey!! Where the fuck are you going!? You bitch!! Let me out of here! NOW!!" Peter roars angrily, banging his fists against the supernatural glass. "We had a fucking deal!"

"Yeah, well, now you've become too sentimental for my liking." Stiles drawls out, still walking away from him without so much as a second glance...'

'"Stiles - Genim, please," Her father stares pleadingly back at her. "It doesn't have to be like this."

Stiles chuckles bitterly as she stares down the barrel of the gun that he's pointing right at her. "Says the Sheriff aiming the firearm at his precious daughter." She chuckles again. "You're just as pathetic as the rest of them." She says as she motions towards her "friends". "No wonder mom let herself just give up and die..."'

"Stiles?"

Stiles can barely hear the wolf's voice over her pulse ringing deafeningly in her ears as her heart thuds heavily, achingly within her chest.

"Stiles? ...Stiles!? Shit!"

Stiles knows what's happening, she's having a panic attack. And quite a bad one, if the wolf's own sudden panic is any evidence to go by.

Thankfully, it's still night time, so Derek has no problem with immediately breaking in the middle of the vacant road. He turns the engine off, but leaves the keys in the ignition and then, instantly hops out of the car. He darts around to the passenger's side, almost tearing both the door and the seatbelt off of her.

Stiles doesn't really process anything she's doing right now, she simply acts upon instinct as she lurches out of the car and all, but throws herself into the wolf's awaiting arms.

"Hey. Hey, it's okay. You're okay." Derek brings his arms up around the back of her shoulders and holds her securely.

Stiles simply clings to him as if he were the only thing keeping her from dying a slow and painful and fright-filled death. Her arms are linked tightly around the back of his neck and one of her cheeks are pressed firmly against the side of his throat.

Derek gulps silently as he feels her sweet, heated pants puffing repeatedly against his flesh, but he otherwise manages to keep himself together, just barely. "Just breathe." He tells her, his voice barely above a murmur. "Slow, deep breaths."

Stiles manages a small nod as she begins to try to match her breathing with his own and after a few minutes, it actually begins to work, like a fricking charm. She still doesn't let him go, however, because well, she just doesn't want to. She's still not sure what the hell is going on between them - not that anything is actually even going on with them or even has (much to her disappointment) - but she's still just grateful that he's here for her. AND that he actually seems to care about her.

+

[Present...]

Derek doesn't need to sniff Stiles out to know where she's disappeared (literally out of thin air) to in order for him to easily find her. He knows he knows her well enough by now. And while he knows that she probably wants to be alone right now, he still needs her to see that she, in fact, is NOT alone, nor was she EVER in the first place. He needs her to understand this, completely. Among other things, that is. Of course, there are SO frigging many things he wants - no, NEEDS to tell her - but he knows that it will take time. Baby steps, he thinks, slowly, slowly.

 

Derek let's himself into her apartment and finds her curled up on her bathroom floor. He moves quickly towards her, carefully slides his hands under her knees and her back and gently lifts her from the floor and into his arms.

Stiles has cried herself fresh out of tears and for that, she's actually a little grateful for.

Derek carries her out of the bathroom and into her bedroom. He feels her cling on tightly, her fingers curling into his shirt and decides to sit on the edge of the himself instead.

After a few moments of comfortable silence and embracing one another, Stiles finally speaks up, her voice low and raspy from all of her crying. "I can't do this, Derek."

"Yes, you can." Derek pulls back enough to look down at her face, his ever-intense gaze settling on her weary own. "It hasn't been that long, Stiles. You need to give yourself time to heal properly. You can't just expect things to turn around overnight."

Stiles nods, because of course she understands that, but - "It just... It hurts so much."

Derek feels his chest tighten painfully, because not only does he have to hear her say the words, but he can also has to endure the feeling in them through the bond they share. He reaches up, gently pulls one of her hands away from his shirt and carefully laces his fingers with her own. "If I could take the pain away, I would."

Stiles stares down at their entwined fingers, her eyes then snapping back up to his. She mentally gulps at the way he's looking at her - like she's the only thing he can see - but oddly, from out of nowhere, she feels a boost of confidence as she shifts in the wolf's lap until she is straddling his waist.

"Stiles," Derek inhales sharply as the movement suddenly awakens his dick. His hands instinctively fall to either side of her waist as he stares up at her with a mixture of confusion and lust.

Stiles doesn't waste another second, nor does she allow herself to hesitate as she leans down and places her lips over his. She feels him hesitate, however, she only presses her harder in response.

Derek can no longer help himself, either as he grips her waist and pulls her as close as fucking possible.

Stiles gives a small, but satisfied smile as he begins to kiss her back with an eager hunger and tightens her arms around his neck.

Derek pulls back just enough to move his mouth to the crook of her neck. He knows he's getting carried away, especially as his hands slide down to give her ass cheeks a rough squeeze. But he also really kind of doesn't care anymore. He's waited so long just to know the taste of her lips and now she's so willing; so fucking tempting.

Stiles gasps softly, shocked when he nips at the tender flesh beneath her ear, but thoroughly aroused, to say the very least. She slides her hands under his leather jacket, sliding it off as quickly as she possibly can before she's immediately moving onto his shirt.

"Stiles, wait..." Derek's simply breathless, a panting mess and he pulls back just enough to glance up into her eyes again.

Stiles leans in for another kiss, short, but sweet as she then pulls away with an even sweeter smile. "I don't wanna wait anymore..." She trails off on purpose, her lips slowly curling upwards all the more.

Derek gulps silently, staring back at her for all of a split second before his mouth is smothering her own again.

Stiles smiles into the kiss, and while she's glad that he wants her just as much as she wants him, she still hasn't forgotten about his (stupid) shirt.

Derek puffs out a chuckle against her lips before pulling away, this time, just enough to quickly yank his shirt off. He smirks at her when he hears her heart beat even faster, sees her practically eye-fucking him. Not that he cares in the slightest of course. He leans forward, his lips catching her own and then just lingering as he whispers; "Your turn."

Stiles feels a wave of flutters in her stomach as she leans back enough to rid herself of her own shirt. And she's no Lydia, she knows this, but the way he's suddenly looking at her makes her feel like she's a thousand times more beautiful than the stunning redhead herself.

Derek places a hand on the back of her neck, pulls her down for another kiss, this time slower and softer. His hand squeezes her neck gently as his other finds its way back to her waist and gives another squeeze.

Stiles sighs contently as he continues to kiss her, and as he does, she feels him slowly turn around and gently lower her until her back hits her bed. Her hands slide back up his naked chest, her arms linking around the back of his neck once again, pulling him closer. She feels his hands slide down her sides and back up again until they cup her bare breasts. Her back arches of its own accord as a soft moan escapes passed her lips.

Derek swallows the sound whole and responds with a low, rumbling growl that vibrates through his entire chest. His mouth leaves hers then, moving quickly down her neck to her chest in a trail of hot, wet kisses. He teases her breasts, kissing around them on purpose before suddenly taking her surprise by taking her hardened nipples into his mouth and gently sucking.

"D-Derek," Stiles' hands tremble with excitement as she reaches down for the zipper of jeans.

Derek's eyes flutter, his nostrils flaring as the sweet her scent of arousal continues to invade his senses. He grabs her hands, gentle pulls them away before quickly tugging them off for her instead.

Stiles let's out another gasp when he leans forward and presses his nose to her mound.

Derek simply inhales deeply her scent for a few seconds, letting out another low, rumbling growl (of approval, very much approval.) God, he's waited so fucking long for this moment and now his dick aches so bad that he simply doesn't know what he wants to do first.

Stiles' heart is racing so hard and fast that her chest actually aches, but in the most wonderful, exhilarating way, of course. And when he hooks his thumbs around her panties, finally pulling them off, she thinks she may actually have a fricking panic attack. She's waited so fucking long for this moment and now that it's here, she's too fricking thrilled and shocked to actually process it fully.

Derek hands are on her thighs, soft, but firm, holding her down almost. He leans forward then, rolling his tongue along the entire length of her soaking slit.

"Oh, shit!" Stiles' words come out utterly breathless as she feels the ache between her legs increase by one hundred percent.

Derek smirks to himself as he lifts her legs onto his shoulders. He leans forward, repeats his actions a few more times before moving his attention to her throbbing bud.

"Derek..." Stiles' back arches again, her hands flying downwards, her fingers lacing and gripping his hair. It's a matter of seconds, literally, before she can feel herself already coming undone. "Derek!!"

Derek grips her thighs tighter, his tongue relentless on her as he let's her ride through every single wave.

"H-holy f-fuck..." Stiles' tugs his hair, unable to take anymore as she pulls him away from her.

Derek smiles proudly to himself when he sees her limbs quivering, her eyes screwed shut and her bottom lip sucked tightly between her teeth. He crawls slowly back up the length of her nude form, his face hovering over her own.

Stiles has every intention of returning the favour - but later. Right now, she can think of nothing else as she flips him over, suddenly switches their positions so that she's straddling his waist once more.

Derek's take by surprise, pleasant surprise. He smirks up at her, the expression only growing when she sends him a pathetic glare.

Stiles rolls her eyes, but she can't help smiling, too. She leans down then, pressing her lips to his as he hands slide down his chest. Her fingers crawl to his belt, sliding it off and tossing it carelessly aside before they move straight onto the zipper of his jeans.

Derek's heart continues to race a million miles an hour as she makes quick work of removing his jeans as well as his boxers. His eyes are glued to her every move as she slides back up, the warmth of her thighs pressing firmly on his lower stomach.

Stiles leans down, her lips taking his once again as she slides further down, until his aching member is tucked against her soaking slit. She rocks her hips, moaning against his mouth at the delightful friction the simple movement creates.

Another low, rumbling growl slips passed and in between Derek's heavy panting. His hands grip her waist as he tries to keep his shifting under control. She shifts forward, and then she let's him slip into her finally and they both let out their own sounds of approval and utter delight...


	14. You Love Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Derek leans down, presses a quick, soft kiss to her lips. "You love me."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sadly, this is the end of this story.  
> Thank you very much for reading!  
> <333

"It's a good sound." Stiles smiles softly to herself as she gently presses her ear to the wolf's chest, over his beating heart. She closes her eyes and just listens as she feels his fingertips ghosting over the small of her back.

Derek's eyes are closed, too, but there's a small smile tugging at the corners of his lips. Right now, he's still just trying to process the fact that he's finally laying in bed beside the girl of his dreams.

"I think this is the first time I've actually heard your heartbeat." Stiles mumbles. "You can always hear mine, and it's not fair."

Derek chuckles quietly at that. "You can read minds." He points out, amusement filling his tone.

"Well, yeah, but..." Stiles huffs lightly, rolls her eyes before opening them and lifting her head just enough to look at his face.

Derek's eyes open as he feels her movement. He stares curiously back at her, keeping silent, because he knows her well enough to know the look on her face, the one where she's struggling to find the words to say what she needs to say. He gives her reassurance by raising a hand to the back of her neck and giving it a gentle squeeze.

"I don't read yours." Stiles says, and she mentally curses herself when she feels her cheeks flooding with heat.

"Really?" Derek finds it hard to believe, but he's also intrigued by her steady pulse.

Stiles nods. "Not once... Not even when I was," She hesitates, gulps silently as she tries to ignore the wanton flashbacks. "Y'know..."

"Why not?" Derek doesn't know if he should be hurt or disappointed to hear that, but he certainly is intrigued, still.

"Ugh," Stiles is now glaring pathetically at him. "'Cause I kinda like the fact that I don't know you're thinking. I think it's mystery and sexy, okay? There, I said it." She let's out a huff before burying her flushed face back into the warmth and safety of his chest.

Of course, Derek laughs at that, 'cause he's a (beautiful) asshole, obviously. He's also sorely tempted to tease her about it, but he decides to use it for another time - one when her naked heat is pressed against his own, preferably. He simply settles with; "Fair enough."

"I hate you." Stiles grumbles with another huff.

"No, you don't." Derek smiles fondly at both the memory of he and his first love; Paige and of the moment he's in right now, with his true love; his mate; the one and only Stiles. And there really is no other like her, nor will there ever be. He slides his hands down to her waist before rolling over, his face now looming over her own.

Stiles stares back up at him and tries to catch her breath at how perfect and beautiful her sour wolf really is.

Derek leans down, presses a quick, soft kiss to her lips. "You love me."

Stiles slides her arms around the back of his neck, pulls him down for another kiss. She pulls away, her lips lingering over his as she finally says the words out loud. "I love you, Derek."

Derek let's out a low, approving sort of growl as he smothers her lips with another kiss.

"Fuck," Stiles whispers, almost whimpers the word out as she clings to the wolf. "I'm so fricking tired, but I still want..." Her cheeks heat up all the more when she realises that she's saying the words out fucking loud.

"What?" Derek arches a brow, a small smile lingering across his lips, he looks, surprised? "You couldn't possibly -" He stops himself then, scowls as he wonders why the fuck he's cock-blocking himself. "I mean... Not that I wouldn't -"

Stiles pouts lightly. "Not even if I wanted. I'm totally fricking spent. Pleasantly numb, even." She rolls her eyes, trying to hide a smile when he shoots her a cheeky grin.

"Me, too." Derek's grin widens as he leans down for another quick kiss. "For now anyway." He adds with a small smirk before rolling back over onto his back, tugging her along with him.

Stiles sprawls her limbs lazily across his own, letting out a content sigh. "I just wanna stay awake so this day can keep happening."

Derek smiles to himself as he hears her heartbeat start to slow in her approaching slumber. "Just sleep for now." He tells her as he tightens his hold on her waist and pulls her as close as humanly possible. "We'll make another just like it tomorrow."

+

Derek's a pretty light sleeper and always has been. So when he hears the sound of a door opening and slamming, he's instantly awake and alert.

"Stiles!?"

Derek's gaze trails down to his slumbering mate and thankfully, she's a pretty fucking heavy sleeper. Even with a stupid Alpha werewolf yelling his idiot head off, Derek thinks as he rolls his eyes in annoyance.

"Stiles!?" Her bedroom door swings open, Scott's eyes widening. "Holy - OH!" He wrinkles his nose as the smell of sex finally wafts out of the room and smacks him in the face. He backs out of the room quickly, closing the door behind him. "Uh... Derek?"

Derek rolls his eyes again, but he's more amused now. "Yes, Scott?"

"Um... Are you and Stiles both naked under there?"

Derek can't help smirking, clearly finding the younger wolf's embarrassment hilarious. "Yes, Scott." He replies as he slips off of the bed, careful not to disturb her - although, he knows that's not likely, any time soon.

"Okay... Um... I'm really happy for you both and all - because holy fuck, finally, but um... I kinda have a situation with the whole spider demon thing."

"What kind of situation? What happened?" That gets Derek's attention as he reaches for his boxers and his jeans.

"Well, nothing yet. I mean, no one else has been killed... As far as we know, anyway... But uh, there's a lot more of them now..."

Derek huffs as he glances longingly back to Stiles as she curls into the sheets and tries to chase his lingering warmth in her sleep. 'We can't just have ONE fucking night, can we!?'

"...Derek?"

"Yeah, hang on." Derek grumbles as he moves silently back to his mate. He pulls the thick quilt over her shoulders, tucks away any lingering drafts and places a soft kiss to her forehead before finally making way out of the room.

"Did you find the one we chased yesterday?" Scott asks, looking slightly (understandably) anxious.

Derek nods. "Yeah. Stiles killed it."

"Oh." Scott looks surprised, for a split second, because then he's smiling, clearly pleased. "Well, good." He narrows his eyes then. "Wait - you couldn't have told me that!?" And now, he's just plane, old glaring. "What the hell, Derek!? I was out all night looking for that little fucker! It's how I found his forty of bastard friends!"

Derek almost bursts out laughing at that. "And if I HAD called you, we wouldn't even know about the others until it was too late."

"Well," Scott narrows his eyes again. "Yeah, but -"

"But nothing." Derek smirks triumphantly.

Scott snorts. "Y'know, I think I like you better when you never laid."

Derek reaches forward, smacking the Alpha hard around the back of his head.

"Oh, my God! Joke!" Scott hisses, now rubbing the slightly sore spot.

Derek rolls his eyes. "Are we going to find and kill these things or not?"

"Obviously." Scott rolls his eyes right back - how very mature of the True Alpha, indeed.

Derek nods as he slips on his jacket and saunters down the hallway.

"Wait," Scott scowls, slightly confused-looking. Not that anything is new there. "What about Stiles?"

"What about her?" Derek stares blankly back at the younger wolf.

"Well, I was thinking that we could probably use someone with her magic talent." Scott states, shooting the older wolf a "duh" look.

"No." Derek's voice is firm and final. "She's needs take it easy. And she's been through enough already."

Scott smiles at this and nods, because of course he gets it. He understood with Allison; his first love, forever a part of his heart, and now with Kira; his true love; his mate. "Can't bare to wake her, huh?"

Derek nods, a small smile tugging at the corners of his lips. "Not for the world."


End file.
